


A Little Birdy Told Me

by Goggles_McGee



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug, batfam - Fandom
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Bashing, Alya Césaire Bashing, Daminette, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I am on board with this ship, I caved and made a daminette fic, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi Lies, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Look i like the kid but im saly, M/M, Maridami, Multi, Protective Batfamily, Stalking, all of gotham loves marinette, batfam loves Marinette, im salty, ml salt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-08 10:29:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20833961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goggles_McGee/pseuds/Goggles_McGee
Summary: Based off the AU by Ozmav, and inspired by paticularlygeeky ! I love Lizzie okay and i love her fic Little Ladybird.Marinette is dealing with knowing Adrien is Chat while on the school trip to Gotham, while also having to deal with more of Lila's lies. It wasn't enough to turn everyone against her she guessed, apparently Lila was set on making sure Marinette felt no happiness. But Marinette makes friends in Gotham, friends that are willing to throw down for her. Out of all things she could have guessed would happen on this trip, falling in love was not one of them. She also didn't expect to reveal her identity to the Batfamily, she also didn't expect to find out their identities either.Meanwhile Adrien is trying to figure out how to make Marinette his finally, one way or another.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know what some of you are thinking, Goggles why the hell did you start another fic when you got so many going on????? My answer: I'm weak to a cute ship. I am very very weak.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy!

It was dark out already and everyone knew not to stay out at night in Gotham, even tourists, but here Marinette was walking aimlessly, trying to find the hotel her and her class were staying at. It didn’t help that her phone had died an hour ago after her following the directions displayed back to the hotel, she hadn’t noticed how low her battery had been so she had kept the app open, she was still hours away, if she had to guess. She knew this trip wouldn’t be great but she had held onto the hope that everyone would be preoccupied with the new place enough to leave her alone, but she had been wrong. Somehow Lila had convinced everyone to leave the hotel earlier than they had planned, of course the day Marinette is early is the day they ditch her at the hotel. She decided to try and catch up with them by taking a taxi but she underestimated just how slow and hectic traffic could be, by the time she got to Wayne Tower she was told that her class had already toured most of the tower but that they would be on one of the upper floors. So she raced up to where they were only to see them get into the elevator, then she ran all the way back downstairs as fast as she could, but at that point she had been so tired that she just couldn’t catch up. The sight of everyone getting in the bus filled Marinette with such relief, she could catch up to them, she yelled out to her teacher who was the last one to get on the bus but it seemed like she didn’t hear her and the bus was quick to take off.

Marinette had just stood there watching the bus drive off in disbelief. She had shouted, her teacher had to have heard her, right? Then why did they leave her again? Especially in Gotham! The Class President had put a whole presentation together on Gotham, especially about the crime and the curfew that they should stick to considering they were tourists. That’s specifically why she pushed so hard to book a hotel near the Wayne Botanical Garden instead of the one near Crime Alley like Principal Damocles wanted them to stay at.

Needless to say she was on edge as she walked, her feet were killing her and she had a migraine, she definitely didn’t think she could try and grab another cab when it had taken her so long to get one earlier. At least Tikki and Kaalki were with her, she wanted to just transform into Ladybug but what if someone saw? Ladybug couldn’t be seen in Gotham, not yet anyways, and she would have asked Kaalki to open a portal for her but she didn’t have anymore sugar cubes to give to the kwami. Eventually, everything just got too much and she stopped in the middle of the alley she had been taking as a short cut and sat down, she couldn’t stop the tears that ran down her face, nor could she hold back her sobs.

She was…she was just so exhausted. With everything, with school, with Hawkmoth, with everyone basically, and she was fed up with not getting to cry, so she let herself do just that, just to get rid of all the pent up emotions that swirled dangerously inside her. Her heart ached, her throat was starting to feel sore from her sobbing, and her lungs begged for more air, but she didn’t care.

“It’s coming from over here Pam-a-lamb!” A voice said from somewhere behind her in the alley, it had a slight accent but she couldn’t place it. That was beside the point, someone was approaching and she didn’t know I’d they were friend or for so she slowly pushed herself up and tried to stop crying but that didn’t really work, if anything it made it worse.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Another voice said, this one was softer. Great there was two of them! She needed to say something anything, but her voice wouldn’t come out, she realized it was even hard to breathe. She couldn’t breathe! She needed to breath!

“Hey, hey, hey! You’re okay doll, everything is okay. Can you breathe with me?” The first voice asked, Marinette looked up when she felt one of her hands grabbed, she flinched and tried to tug her hand away but the person had a good grip. They placed her hand on their chest and breathed slowly. In, and out. In, and out. She soon found herself copying the breathing, she finally got control of her tears and blinked the rest away so she could see things other than colorful blobs.

“You’re doing great!” The woman who had placed her hand on her chest said, she finally got a good look at her, she was blonde from what she could see under the red and black jester-like hat, she had white face paint with a black and red mask over her eyes, pink blush stood out among the face paint. Her outfit seemed to follow the black and red theme with a collared shirt jumper over a leotard that went and disappeared into boots. Marinette could feel the leather of the gloves that held her hand. The other woman had vibrant red hair, her skin had a green hue to it, her clothes seemed to be coming from her, like she grew them. The top was white, it looked like it had veins, almost like flower petals, vines act as a belt while her pants seemed to be made of leaves.

Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, she recognized them from her research on the city. She knew that they were rogues, sometimes antiheros, it really depended on the day of the week it seemed, with how they were acting she was hoping they were feeling more antihero.

“What’s wrong sweetheart?” Ivy asked as she pet Marinette’s hair, the girl couldn’t help but lean into the gentle touch, sure she got a lot of physical affection from her parents, but they weren’t here and she soaked up whatever comfort she could get.

“I-I…it’s just been a really long day.” Marinette stuttered out before she launched into a full explanation of the day she had been having, she did her best to not break out in tears again, she surprisingly was able to do that, she chalked it up to the fact that Harley was sitting by her and a had a hand around her shoulders while Ivy held her hand. As she explained she completely missed the two women exchange looks of rage at what they were hearing.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that my pet,” Ivy said in a soft voice as she stood up and helped Marinette up, “would you like us to take you to the police station?”

Marinette shook her head with wide eyes. She really didn’t need to give her classmates more fuel to add to add to their dumpster fire of secrets and ridicule of her. “I’m sure things will be better tomorrow, but uh, can you help me back to my hotel? My phone was giving me directions, but it died.”

“Of course, Doll! Where you stayin’?” Harley asked as she and Ivy walked on either side of Marinette, Harley still had her arm around Marinette’s shoulder, but the girl really didn’t mind, she felt comfortable with them, which really surprised her, but she knew the two weren’t anything like Joker or any other villain, they were more like Luka when he became Silencer. That reminded her that she was supposed to call him and Kagami to tell them about her first day in Gotham.

“At Gotham Grandeur.”

“You would have been walking for hours! How could they do that, don’t they know how dangerous Gotham can be?” Seethed Ivy, orange lilies started to bloom in her hair and thorns seemed to protrude from her vine belt.

“I covered that in my presentation on Gotham weeks before we left, I wanted to have all bases covered, I mean it is my responsibility of class president…but I guess my teacher forgot or something.” She lamented, the ‘or intentionally forgot,’ remained unspoken. “That’s just my luck really but I guess Lady Luck decided to grant me some luck today! Afterall I got to meet you guys!”

The two rogues smiled down at her and she smiled back, more genuinely than she had in a long time. She smiled more when Ivy asked if she would be okay if they traveled with her vines on the rooftops, she claimed it would be much faster and she said it would be safer for Marinette. Really, she had no problem with it, especially when some of the vines held her carefully when they jumped over to another building, kind of like a seatbelt. The thought made her giggle. It took them awhile but eventually Marinette was back at the hotel, she could see some of her classmates hanging out in the lobby, making her freeze, she really didn’t have the energy to deal with them if they noticed her.

Apparently, Ivy and her vines felt Marinette freeze up. “Are you okay sweetie?”

“Um, well, my classmates are in the lobby, and well we don’t exactly get along. I just really don’t want them to see me.” Marinette explained in a hurry as she tried to hide herself behind Ivy and Harley when Adrien turned to look outside, she couldn’t see him so she hoped he couldn’t see her.

“Do you remember which room is yours?” Harley asked, her voice was cheerful, but Marinette could hear the slight fakeness to it.

“Room 7021. Mine has a balcony…” She said, she felt the vines grab her once more before they lifted her to the seventh floor, right at her balcony, which thankfully she didn’t lock the door to her room when she had stepped out to take a look at the city and the gardens they were near. “Thank you so much, for everything. Oh, wait here!”

Marinette rushed into her room and opened up the box that she had wrapped in some clothes and took out two macarons. Her parents had sent her with an assortment of them that way she had something to remind her that they loved her. Also so she could have a taste of home while she was out in an unfamiliar place. She quickly made her way to the two women who were leaning against the rails of her balcony. They smiled when she came back and she easily returned their smiles as she handed each of them a lemon raspberry macaron.

“As a thank you.”

“Doll you didn’t have to!” Harley squealed out before she immediately stuffed the macaron in her mouth.

Ivy chuckled and smiled fondly at her clown, “She’s right, but thanks all the same…uh?”

“Oh my god, I didn’t tell you guys my name. I’m Marinette!”

“Thank you Mari-gold, it was nice to meet you dear, we’ll leave you so you can rest.” Ivy said as she nudged Harley with her shoulder, Harley nodded before picking up Marinette in a big hug.

“Hope to see you again, Doll!”

“Me too!” Marinette giggled. She watched as they left, and for the first time in a long time she went to bed not feeling dread about tomorrow. She really hoped she got to see them again. Hopefully she would, but she was really excited for their tour tomorrow, they were going to be going back to Wayne Tower and she was excited to actually tour the place with no rush.

* * *

Ivy and Harley took a break on a roof, still close to Marinette’s hotel. Ivy was barely holding in the urge to cover the whole hotel in her vines and letting them have a couple snacks, but she took deep breaths to quell the tempting thought. Harley was doing no better as she swung her mallet around to relieve some stress.

“They left her to fend for herself, Red…That’s just, that’s just wrong!” Harley yelled out as she paced back and forth on the roof.

“I know, Love, I’m not exactly happy about it either. She was such a sweetheart; I don’t see how they could forget about her like that.”

“I think something is going on with her and that class of hers.” Harley grumbled out as she came to stand with Ivy at the edge of the building. “Every time she mentioned them, she would curl in on herself, like she was trying to make herself seem smaller. That’s not okay. And the way she described being left behind? Yeah that was a load of baloney.”

“You think they left her on purpose?” Ivy asked, she really hoped Harley was wrong.

“I think we might need to seek out the Bat just so he can be on the look out just in case they “forget” her again.” Harley said with a frown as she stared off in the direction of the hotel they had just come from. Ivy really didn’t want to have to talk to the Bat but arley was right, it would be the smartest thing to do for Mari-gold.

* * *

**Bugs Before Hugs** @immagothamitetermite

#onlyingotham I swear I just saw Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy on some rooftops with a teenage girl, it could also be the Red bull and coffee taking effect though. #essayduetomorrow #killmemydudes #thatsnotaninvitationroguesisweartogod 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette actually wakes up early, the world must be ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all the kudos and comments they made me so happy! Thanks for all the support guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

“Batsy, I know you’re mad about the shop window, but my Daffo-Doll and I had to talk to you about somethin’ really concernin’” Harley said as she hid her mallet behind her back, as though the vigilante wouldn’t notice it.

“I tried to tell her to wait until one of you guys came out but that would have taken too long. Call this a speed dial.” Ivy explained as she played with a blossoming marigold in her hand. She couldn’t help but look at it fondly, it reminded her of Marinette, and since that’s what they wanted to discuss with him, her thoughts kept drifting to the heartbreaking sobs her and Harley had heard on their way home from a date night. Harley had taken her to her favorite Thai restaurant and had actually tried one of the vegetarian dishes with her. The real surprise was that Harley actually like it. It had been such a good night but then they heard the crying and had found that poor girl crying in the alleyway. Ivy had been a bit wary but seeing Marinette and actually talking to her, she couldn’t help but already love the child, and it helped that her plans seemed to like the child too. She had never seen them be protective of anyone besides her, Harley, and Lucy when she would come to visit.

“And what’s the reason for this…” speed dial” Ivy?” The Bat asked, always to the point.

“We ran into a tourist today,” Ivy began.

“Her name is Marinette and she is literal sunshine!” Harley interrupted.

“And she was left behind at her class twice today. She said they probably forgot her, but Harley thinks they may have done it on purpose.” Ivy explained as she examined Batman, looking for any kind of sign that he would take this seriously, because if not she was not above throwing him over the side of the building.

It was silent for a couple minutes before Batman nodded and looked at Harley as he crossed his arms. “Why do you think they did it on purpose, Quinn?”

Harley huffed and walked over to the Bat, her frown deepened as she explained everything that she had told Ivy, her behavior was a clear warning, or so Harley said. Ivy always loved when Harley showed her psychologist side. She listened to her explain more about Marinette’s body language before she finally told him about how they found her near Crime Alley. That’s when his usually stoic face broke out in a frown.

“How old did you say she was?” He asked.

“She’s 15, she’s 15 and her teacher didn’t even notice she forgot her and left her behind in one of th most crime filled cities in the world. You can understand why this worries us.” Ivy growled at the thought of them abandoning sweet Marinette again. “We just wanted to let you know in case they happen to “forget” her again.”

“I’ll look into it.” And with that the Bat was gone. Ivy hoped beyond anything that the next time her and Harley ran into Marinette, it would be under safer and happier circumstances.

* * *

A shrill ringing boke the peaceful sleep Marinette had been having but she knew she had to get up earlier than normal if she didn’t want to be “forgotten” again. She quickly took a shower and dressed herself in some pink shorts that were designed to look like her usual capris, white tights, a grey cardigan with a pink and white polka dotted pocket on the right breast, underneath that was a white t-shirt with her usual apple blossom design on it. She slipped on her pink flats before she grabbed her usual purse and a small backpack that had her sketchbook, some pens and pencils, a water bottle, a small first aid kit, and some cookies in it. She would worry about breakfast once she knew she was in no danger of being left behind again, and she would grab some sugar cubes for Kaalki while she was at it.

Once she was downstairs she made sure to ask the front desk if her class had left yet, she was relieved to hear that they had not yet so she made her way to the restaurant where there was complimentary breakfast, she grabbed a probably stale blueberry muffin, a banana, apple juice and some sugar cubes before she went back to the lobby and sat on one of the couches nearest to the door and munched awat on breakfast. She shared some of the muffin with the kwamis in her small purse as she waited for more people to come down and wait for the bus to arrive. The first of her classmates to come down was Max, she smiled and waved at him and he returned the gesture as he made his way to brab breakfast before joining her on the couch.

“There’s a 99.3% chance the world is going to end today, you’re early for something.” He joked.

Marinette laughed and shook her head; she was happy when she had found out that Max was on her side after he did research after the whole napkin incident. He had apologized for days before Marinette had convinced him that she wasn’t mad and forgave him. “Yeah, I didn’t want a repeat of what happened yesterday.”

Max frowned and shook his head, it was easy to tell he was annoyed, “We tried to tell Madame Bustier that you were on your way down, but Lila managed to convince her to just go. She didn’t even listen to Kim, Alix, and I.”

“It’s not your guys’ fault.”

“We know but that doesn’t make what they did any better, Marinette. Markov even tried to talk some sense into Madame Bustier, but she threatened to lock him away in room for the remainder of the trip.”

Now it was Marinette’s turn to frown, “She shouldn’t have done that, he was just trying to help. Where is he now?”

“In our room, I asked if he wanted to come today but he said he didn’t have the patience to deal with Madame and Lila, I left him with the video games Kim and I brought though so he should be entertained till we get back for our free time after the tour.” Max explained as Kim jogged over to them.

“Nettie! Wow the world must be ending.”

Marinette huffed out a laugh as she threw the wrapper from her muffin at Kim. He easily deflected it and threw it back at her as he sat next to Max on the couch. The three of them continued to talk till they heard wheels on the marble floor and groaning before they saw Alix plop herself on the chair next to them. They all laughed at their friend, who was as much a morning person as Marinette was.

“When did you get back, Nettie?” Alix asked once she was more awake and drinking a large cup of black coffee.

“Late. I don’t even know the actual time. My phone died on my way back.”

“What? Are you okay did anything happen?” Kim fussed over her, the action making her giggle.

“I’m fine Kim, I got some help back to the hotel.” She carefully left out the fact that it was Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn that had been the ones to help her back. She didn’t want her friends to worry more than they already had, and she really didn’t want to explain how they found her and everything. The group continued talking until everyone arrived. Marinette could see that Adrien was going to approach her, but Lila latched onto his arm like a leash. It was the one time in her life Marinette had ever wanted to thank Lila. Talking with Adrien always meant an argument nowadays. She doesn’t know what started it but if she had to guess it probably happened around the same time, she found out his was Chat Noir. She hadn’t meant to find out, but it was during a particularly difficult akuma. The fight had gone on for over an hour, as soon as they were done, she rushed off home, barely managing to transform back on her balcony, just as she was about to go into her room Chat Noir landed on her balcony after transforming back mid jump. It had to have hurt, and Marinette would have rushed over to make sure he was okay, if it hadn’t been for the fact that she had just watched Chat Noir turn into Adrien.

His groaning had shaken her out of her shock, and she had quickly ran over to make sure he was okay. The next couple of days had been awkward, they barely talked to each other, and she didn’t even think she could form her usual nonsense sentences. But after a long talk they started to get close, but Marinette hadn’t told him she was Ladybug. It was a good thing she didn’t, she had to hear him talk over and over again about how they were meant to be and that Ladybug was just being stubborn and blind. The more they spoke about it, the more Marinette realized Adrien wouldn’t fall for just her, it was disheartening but she figured she was better as a friend to him.

But that didn’t last, Ladybug had once again rejected Chat Noir and Adrien had had it or so it seemed, then he had tried to kiss her. She tried to make it clear that it wasn’t okay to do that so soon, plus the fact that she didn’t like him like that. Something must have been lost in translation or something because he started trying to “woo” her. What didn’t help the situation was Alya thinking she was helping Marinette out by announcing to the class that she had had the biggest crush on Adrien. After that, Adrien wouldn’t take no for an answer, no matter how much she explained she didn’t like him.

It escalated to the fact that she had to get a new phone number and make entirely different social media accounts. It wasn’t just him that led her to those suggestions, but he was a big factor. Then he broke into her room and tried to make her go on a date with him. That was a bad night, she had yelled for him to let her go as he tried to pull her through her skylight door, but thankfully her papa heard her and he came running upstairs and had punched Chat Noir away from her. She could tell that it hadn’t deterred Chat because he just blew her a kiss and said he would return. That night was the first time in a long time that Marinette had slept in her parent’s bed with them. They could hear Chat come back an hour later, he stayed up in her room for about thirty minutes, then they heard the latch door to her room open, all three held their breaths, strained their ears to listen if he was going to come down, but they heard her door close and waited before they even thought about relaxing.

She was brought out of the thought when she felt herself being dragged onto the bus by Kim, he made sure to take her to the back rows and place her by a window, as a way to protect her, he had explained. When they had first got in to Gotham, Marinette had taken the aisle seat so that Kim could sleep, there was a lot of “dropped” things on her, including drinks. She shot him a grateful smile.

“You excited to see more of Wayne tower today?” She asked as she leaned her head on the window.

“You know it! That place was so awesome. I just wish you could have seen it yesterday…”

“It’s okay, I’m going today, plus Max said that Markov recorded everything for me to see later.”

“I forgot he did that! I’ll have to ask him to send me some of the footage, I promised Ondine I would send her pictures and such.”

Mari smiled slyly as she elbowed Kim gently while wiggling her eyebrows, “How’s that going by the way?”

Kim laughed and shoved her face away playfully before he sighed dreamily. “She’s the best Nettie! Did I tell you what she gave me before we left?”

“No, what?”

He held up his wrist and tapped the capsule, “We switched bracelets, inside is little messages to each other. She’s so smart Nettie, I don’t know how I got so lucky.”

The rest of the ride was spent talking about Ondine, and Max talking about the newest updates to his game and trying to talk Alix out of doing graffiti while they were in Gotham. All in all it was a good start to the day.

* * *

**Sam I Am** _@gothamite4lifebby_

A bus just passed by me and I looked inside and made eye contact with this girl who had black hair and blue eyes…did…did I just spot a new Wayne? #onlyingotham #shitimlateforworkagain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are very much appreciated


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette finally gets to see Wayne Tower with her friends, but things can't be that simple huh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay guys I was sick! But thank you all for the comments they have made my day!!

Wayne tower was amazing! Marinette had already taken so many pictures and had drawn so many sketches, she would probably have to buy a new sketchbook while they were in Gotham. Kim pointed out stuff she had missed yesterday while Max chatted with Markov through an earpiece, he had explained that it wasn’t really like a Bluetooth set since it was really only connected with Markov. He had let Marinette, Kim, and Alix say hi to Markov before he took back the earpiece and continued on talking about who knows what with Markov. Alix kept almost tripping every time the marbled floor turned into carpeting, but she stubbornly refused to switch from her roller blades to her sneakers that Kim had in his backpack. Their tour guide, Dick, was super nice and super informative so the tour was really flowing well.

“Okay kids time for lunch, you can eat here in the cafeteria, or, your teacher has told me, you are allowed to go to any of the café’s around Wayne Tower as long as you have a buddy and as long as you make sure to be back here by 1:30.” Dick announced before he turned around and headed towards a door that said, ‘Employees Only.’

Kim let out a small whoop and high fived Alix. “Freedom!”

Marinette laughed as Max shook his head fondly at the two of them. “Where do you guys want to it?”

“From that ‘whoop’ and exclamation of ‘freedom,’ I’d say they want to go somewhere near Wayne Tower.” Max explained as Kim nodded and started walking towards the elevators with the others trailing after him. As they waited for the elevators, Marinette noticed a boy waiting as well, he had black hair and blue eyes that looked so tired, it was then she noticed the mug of coffee he had in his hand, it said ‘ Coffee is my life support.’ He was dressed smartly, it was obvious that the suit he was wearing was tailored but Marinette doubted it was comfortable, she had the sudden urge to take the guys measurements and ask him who makes his suits, but she didn’t think he would appreciate that so she kept her thoughts and questions to herself.

Once they made it downstairs, they started walking towards the front door while discussing where they would like to eat. Eventually they decided on this small café called ‘Comfort Eats,’ it was no easy decision as they had all argued for a good ten minutes outside Wayne Tower, people had just looked at them, Marinette guessed they were quite the sight, French teens all yelling passionately before Alix tackled Kim causing Max to laugh and Marinette to face palm before she yelled that she was just going to walk to the closest restaurant and that they were welcome to join her. Thankfully that had worked and that’s how they found themselves in the coziest café Marinette had ever been in. The tables were wood grain with paint streaks all over, there was a small vase of flowers on every table, the chairs were cushioned and each one had a small blanket hanging off the back. The lights were dimmed but no to the point where you would have to squint to see your menu, and jazz was playing softly in the back. The place itself just filled Marinette with warmth and did wonders at helping her relax, she hadn’t even known had tense she was.

An older woman who kind of reminded Marinette of her grandma Gina with the way she was dressed, brought them to a small table in the back and handed them each a menu. Marinette scanned the menu, everything sounded so good! She really didn’t know what to get but they decided to just order their drinks and a breadbasket as they decided.

“Nettie….” Kim whined, “Everything sounds good. Choose for me.”

Marinette laughed, “If I choose you won’t like it.”

“That’s not true!”

“Kim, it’s been that way since we were 7.”

Kim grumbled but Marinette knew he wasn’t annoyed, since he was smiling as he skimmed the menu yet again. When they were little Kim always wanted Marinette to pick out his food for him, and then he wouldn’t like it and always choose something else, that was how it always went and soon Marinette had refused to choose for him.

After their lunch they were all ready to basically hibernate. The lady wasn’t kidding when she said the portions were huge and meant to be shared. As they walked into Wayne Tower, they heard familiar laughter, whatever good mood Marinette had had, vanished once she saw Lie-la and her goons. She rolled her eyes at them and made her way towards the elevators, her group had wanted to hang out in the lobby till it was time to meet up with everyone back in the cafeteria but one look at everyone and she knew they all decided the cafeteria would probably be a better place to wait. She pressed the button to call the elevator to them while gritting her teeth every time she heard Lila laugh, her body was tense as though waiting to hear that laugh being directed towards her like it always was. She felt a hand give her shoulder a squeeze, she turned to look at Kim who gave her as small smile before he shielded her body with his, along with Alix and Max.

“No way girl that’s so awesome! I can’t believe you’re dating a Wayne!” Alya said. Marinette grinded her teeth more as she kept pushing at the button, knowing well it was on its way down from the sound dings that sounded every time it passed a floor.

“Damiboo really is the best, he says I must be his soulmate, he’s so romantic that way. It’s such a shame I won’t be able to see him today, but it’s a small miracle, that way Marinette won’t be too jealous.” Lila sing-songed, but when she said Marinette’s name, it had bite behind it, not like anyone in the group noticed or cared.

“That girl is such a jealous bitch, god! I can’t believe she tore up that letter he wrote to you! Actually, I can believe it, she’s awful.” Alya growled. Marinette wrapped her arms around her and pushed the button more frantically. She could feel Kim tense behind her.

“I just wish she would leave me alone, but I guess nothing has really stopped her before. Maybe she needs to learn her lesson- Oh, no that was so mean of me. I’m sorry guys.”

“Don’t apologize Lila! It’s not your fault” Sweet Rose exclaimed as she hugged Lila. “It’s Marinette’s fault.”

“She does need to be taught a lesson. We have free time today, away from Mme. Bustier.” Alya said with so much excitement it made Marinette feel sick. Were they really discussing beating her up so joyfully and openly?

“Alya you can’t actually be suggesting that-“

“Can it Agreste, she deserves it after everything she has put Lila through.”

Thankfully the elevator opened letting Marinette rush inside to the farthest corner, Kim, Alix, and Max rushed in after her and closed the doors before any of their classmates could notice them.

Alix growled and punched the wall of the elevator as Kim held Marinette in a big hug. Max was typing away on his phone frowning. “I can’t believe them! Gah! I’d like to give them all a lesson.” Alix shouted.

“The fact that they were planning it so openly means they are confident that they will not be caught. Or at the very least, if they are caught, they won’t be punished and with how Mme. Bustier has been acting, I would say they are correct.” Max muttered out as he squeezed his phone, looking close to throwing it at the elevator doors.

“Don’t worry Nettie, we won’t let them anywhere near you.” Kim stated as he finally released her from his hug.

“Thanks guys, but I don’t want to take away your guys free time today, we won’t have much of it starting next week when we start going to Gotham Academy to see how schooling is different.” Marinette mumbled.

“Yeah, but we do need to buddy up for free time remember?” Alix said as he skated next to Marinette. “I know already know Kim and Max are going to buddy up for today, so you’re stuck with me Nettie!”

“Sounds good, did you have anywhere you wanted to go?” Marinette asked as they made their way to the cafeteria, Max would call out the directions or Kim would tug on one of the girls elbows so that they wouldn’t get lost as they talked.

“Not really, I just wanted to check out that park near the hotel, and I know you were dying to check out the gardens.”

“Yeah, I can’t believe they took that out of the schedule I submitted last minute, all because Lila suddenly has an allergy to Gotham flowers.” Marinette scoffed at the obvious lie. “How can you be allergic to flowers that grow everywhere but the only place those allergies act up in is Gotham? The place we just so happen get to go to?”

“Honestly the whole school is just stupid sans you guys, Nathaniel, and Marc.”

“How is Nathaniel by the way? I feel so bad that he couldn’t come.”

“Eh, he was sad, but he has Marc to help nurse him to help.”

Marinette chuckled at that, the couple was inseparable even when sick, they tended to play some odd game of tag when they got sick, one would be sick then pass it on to the other and so on and so forth. It was amazing if not exhausting. Nathaniel’s mom had called them the day they were leaving to tell them he wasn’t able to go on the trip due to a stomach bug. They had been so upset to leave them behind but Nathaniel told them he would kill them if they didn’t go because of him. But they were all making sure to take lots of pictures for him and Marc to see, they would also be skyping the two that night just to check up on them and tell them about their first time in Gotham so far.

* * *

Dick was waiting for all the kids to return, as well as their teacher, he could have sworn she moved faster then all the kids when he announced they could leave for lunch. He had thought that at least some of them would stay for lunch, but they had all left for someplace outside, not that he blamed them, cafeteria food wasn’t that great. He had been fiddling with his phone when he heard some soft voices and the sound of skates on marble, he looked up to see some of the kids twenty minutes early.

His eyes immediately found the black haired, blue-eyed girl, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. His father had told everyone about his encounter with Ivy and Harley, Tim had automatically pulled up any research he could about Marinette, Bruce recognized her as the class president of the class from France that he had agreed to help show Gotham to as well as some of his businesses. From what they read she was like sunshine personified, but what caught their attention was her being denied a transfer of classes, as well as a very brief report about her near expulsion. It hardly had any information, which was suspicious enough on it’s own, were it not for all the bullying reports she had given over the years, especially the past couple of years. And yet nothing seems to have been done.

It was concerning enough that Bruce told Dick to act as the tour guide for the class for the next week, starting next week it would be Damien’s turn to keep and eye on the girl and her class, since they would be going to his school to see how schooling was in Gotham. It was a miracle how this trip was working out in their favor to help spy on the class.

Even throughout the tour Dick had to physically restrain himself from sighed and facepalming, one girl with long brown hair, and two parts of her hair tied (which honest to god looked like sausages) starting to wax these outlandish lies about how she has already toured the whole Wayne Tower, even the upper floors where some employees aren’t even allowed to go. He thought for sure her class would point that out but nope, they all just looked at her as though she hung the stars and moon herself, all except Marinette and her group of friends. It was clear they didn’t believe her, and Dick could see that the girl knew it too. He thought the lies would stop there but no, he wasn’t that lucky, the girl who he found out was named, Lila, went on and one about how she was friends with Batman and all his “sidekicks”, he had never wanted to reveal his identity more than in that moment. But Dick promised not to cause any trouble, at least not until he had gathered enough evidence about the class. There was the incident from yesterday, where she acted like she didn’t know she was missing a student before finally saying she trusted said student to be on her own, that was doing nothing to dissuade him that the teacher was corrupt or just really was as dumb as Jason said once he read how the teacher taught her class. Of course, Jason had used more colorful words to describe the woman.

That was more than enough evidence for him to know he had too look out for Marinette, not to mention once he actually met her, he automatically wanted to introduce her to Kor’i and wrap the girl in bubble wrap. He could see the hurt in her eyes every time the class said anything about her or even just looked at her. He remembered how most of them were saying the class was better off without her, the teacher had clearly heard and yet said nothing about that. The only ones to stand up for her were the ones she was walking with, Alix Kubdel, Lê Chiến Kim, and Max Kante.

“So how are you guys liking the tour?” He asked them once they made their way towards him.

“This place is amazing!” Marinette said, “The architecture is incredible, and the flooring layout is easy to navigate.”

“I dig the marble flooring.” Alix said with a smirk as she skated in a circle around Dick and her friends, it made him laugh.

“I’m glad you guys are liking it so far; we’ll be touring some of the upper floors once everyone shows up.”

It took awhile for the rest to show up because apparently the Lila girl had vertigo and couldn’t use the elevator, let alone walk up some stairs so some of her classmates had to carry her up the stairs. Dick was about ready to throw the towel in and just yell at the student but withheld himself from doing so, he was gathering info, he had to focus. The rest of the tour was pretty tame in terms of the lies spewing from the liar’s mouth, that is until he heard his brother’s name come out of her mouth.

“Yeah Damien said he was going to take me out for a fancy dinner sometime next week, he didn’t tell me where we are eating but he did say he had had the reservations for a while.”

“Congrats girl, we’ll help doll you up fot the date when it comes up!”

“Oh thank you Alya, I’m just worried about what the dress I chose, I wouldn’t put it past Marinette to try and ruin it like she did his letter to me.”

“I’d like to see her try.” The Alya girl snarled as she glared at Marinette.

That was it, info be damned. No one talked about his family like that and got away with it, and he would not stand by the obvious bullying going on. He stopped walking once they were in the lobby and turned around to finally speak his mind when he heard a scream. He turned towards the doors to see Two-Face and Scarecrow walk in. Some of the goons carrying around their guns and pointing them at everyone, while the others blocked the doors. Everyone was panicking, Dick could see some employees grabbing gas masks at the sight of Scarecrow, the class behind him was, as expected, freaking out, except for Marinette and the blond boy, Adrien Agreste. He didn’t have time to dwell on that when a gun was being pointed to his chest and some towards the students.

“They’ll make perfect hostages don’t you think Crane?” Two-Face laughed.

“Without a doubt.” Scarecrow murmured from beneath his mask.

“You boy step aside!” Two-Face yelled at him, the goon who had been pointing the gun at him shoved the gun into him more firmly causing him to stumble back a bit. This was bad very bad, worse even when he saw Two-Face grab Marinette and hold a gun against her head.

* * *

**Emma Madison** _@EmplyeeofNever_

Just my luck, the day I come back to work after being gone with the flu, is the day Scarecrow and Two-Face come in to hold up the place. SMH can’t i just have one peaceful day? Side note i spotted that girl who looks like a Wayne, I was skeptical about that but guys, no joke she does look like a Wayne. #possiblelostwayne ??? #butseriouslycantthevillainsjustgivemeonedayofpeace 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Action and thrills! We finally see Damien!! Mari kicking some ass and being a total badass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have finally bared witness to my horrible update schedule, which is to say i have no schedule, I'm so sorry! Midterms are next week though so I've been studying like crazy, also I've been getting my headaches almost every day for the past week. But I'm happy i finally finished this chapter!!
> 
> Thank you guys so much for the support, it means everything to me!

The exits were blocked, but not the doors to the stairs, nor the employees only rooms which would more than likely have an emergency exit, probably the closest ones. Or they could risk the stairs if they could manage to get away without being shot at, but Marinette didn’t like the idea of someone getting shot while trying out that option. Another option was waiting for the local heroes to arrive, but Marinette had done her research on the villains/rogues that Gotham had, and with their track record of getting out of Arkham, she did extensive research on reports of how Batman or any other vigilante in Gotham had taken them down, just in case her and her classmates ever ran into one of them. Just their luck that they would run into two at the same time. Everyone was scared, that much she could tell, all except Adrien, but she wouldn’t believe that was he was feeling was bravery, it was more so cockiness, especially how he looked over Two-Face and Scarecrow, as well as the numerous henchmen guarding the doors and holding guns.

Marinette prayed that he wouldn’t do anything stupid, especially when there was a gun currently being pressed to her temple, and an arm holding her neck so that she couldn’t move too far away. She was kind of glad she didn’t have to face Two-Face, one look had been enough for her, thank you very much. She glanced at Scarecrow as he looked over everyone, she imagined he was smiling underneath the burlap sack-mask he wore, all she could see was his eyes. She knew he was insane, and she could see it in his eyes, but she could also see how he was calculating everything, he was a scientist, it would be dumb to underestimate him purely because he was a villain now. He may be insane, but he was smart, if she could, he would be the first one she would want to incapacitate, then Two-Face, goons are nothing without their leader, they would behave recklessly which is when she could strike. She knew she would at least have Adrien to help out with a fight if one started, but the thought of fighting with him left a bitter taste in her mouth, there were some employees she thought would be able to hold their own, and there were those she had no doubt they could take out a few goons with breeze, though that only really applied to one employee. Their tour guide, Dick Grayson, he was nice and his smile was friendly, but one look at him and you knew he could break you if he so wanted to, and at the moment? He looked ready to punch Two-Face, in well, his two faces. She could see him analyzing the situation, while also making himself look as least threatening as possible, she silently praised him for his efforts, but the muscles he had kind of gave him away. Her on the other hand, she was small, her muscles not easily seen, and according to her mother, she had doe-like eyes, which painted the perfect picture of unassuming and possibly scared girl. She made herself tremble, if they were going to get out of this, she had to play her part perfectly.

“Now, I think you all know what happens if you don’t listen to us.” She felt, more than heard Two-Face say. She whimpered softly, he in response tightened the arm around her, bringing her closer to him, and the gun. So far so good.

Scarecrow wasn’t holding a gun, but she chalked it up to him having his fear toxin as a weapon. All she needed was a good distraction, but the question was, how could she cause one without getting a bullet in her head. Whatever it would be had to be small but nothing that could easily be overlooked, but it couldn’t be too big to where they opened fire on all of them. She looked around, she was actually close by a chair in the lobby, it looked sturdy and not too heavy, that was good she could use that. There was a potted plant by Scarecrow that looked promising as well. Some of the goons weren’t paying much attention to the hostages which was a disadvantage for Two-Face and Scarecrow but would help out Marinette greatly. She just needed one ore thing to put the plan in motion, as she looked around, she made eye contact with Dick, he was ready to do something, she could tell, and that was exactly what she needed. She looked at him and the fire alarm on the wall behind him, he gave the slightest of nods. She blinked her eyes three times at him and hoped he understood that he should pull it on the third blink she sent. Again, he gave a slight nod. Dang, it felt good to have a competent partner in a plan for once.

She took a deep breath and zoned out on whatever Two-Face was monologuing about, for once she was happy to hear a villain monologue. She made eye contact with Dick once more before slowly blinking her eyes at him. On the third one he moved so quickly she was surprised, but once she heard the alarm and felt the grip on her loosen she immediately ducked under Two-Face’s arm, she couldn’t hesitate, she grabbed the chair and swung with all her weight and hit him, he fell and released his gun. She kicked it away and used the chair once more, this time on Scarecrow, hitting him just so, so that he would fall over the potted plant. The goons were just staring at her, well the ones that Dick hadn’t taken care of yet.

“Where’s an exit?” She yelled.

“Follow me!” Dick yelled as he ran to one of the employee only doors and used his key card to open it up, he held it open while everyone ran inside, Marinette was ushering people to the door while keeping a look out for and goons or their bosses, they were slowly getting up, and the anger she saw was not a good sign.

“Hurry!” She hissed, her class wasn’t making anything easier as they shoved and crowded towards the door, often getting stuck, Dick seemed to be getting just as irritated with them as she felt.

She looked behind her and saw Scarecrow getting up, and his sights were set on her. A shiver went down her spine, but she couldn’t afford to be afraid, she looked at Dick and gave him a small smile. “I’m going to lead Scarecrow away, please get them to safety and call for help.”

“What? No. I’m not letting you do that, that’s crazy!” He was shocked, that much she gathered but also panicked.

“We don’t have time to argue, go!” And with that she grabbed a forgotten coffee mug and threw it at Scarecrow’s feet. His gaze hardened as he fully stood up, some goons looked like they were going to go after her as well, but Scarecrow held up a hand and stopped them. Even Two-Face looked surprised.

“You go get our hostages back, this one is mine.”

That was her que to run. She hadn’t toured the first floor, so she didn’t know where she was going, but she knew a building like this, had more than one emergency exit. So, she just run, she knew she was fast, but the hesitation of where to go slowed her down, she knew he would catch up to her eventually, she just hoped the heroes would arrive before then, so for the mean time she could just hope to stall him long enough. But her limited knowledge was her downfall as she turned into what was essentially a dead end, but she opened the door to her left anyways and found herself in an office full of cubicles, if anything she could hide.

Or that was what she thought before she felt a kick to her back causing her to stumble into the room and fall on the floor. She tried to get up quickly, but she was yanked up but one of her pigtails and thrown right back onto the floor, only this time on her back so she had to look up at Scarecrow. She tried to scramble back but he put a foot to her throat.

“Now then, now that all that excitement is behind us, let’s see what you’re afraid of.”

[Following scene depicts graphic imagery/ hallucinations/ violence]

She knew what was coming and went to hold her breath as she heard gas leaking, but he put pressure on her neck causing her to gasp, which made her inhale. The effects were instant. She didn’t even register the foot being taken off her throat. She grabbed her head and closed her eyes, but she could hear them, every akuma she ever faced, asking why she failed them, why did she allow them to be turned into monsters, why couldn’t she do better? But then she heard His voice.

She opened her eyes and looked up, it was a demented version of Hawkmoth, and beside him was Chat Noir, who was also half Adrien, they looked sewn together, the sight made her want to puke. Hawkmoth was talking again, but his words were muffled by the screams of the akumas. She shook her head and backed away, but they followed.

“You really though you could beat me? You’re nothing but a pathetic kid, Ladybug, or should I say Marinette? Your parents will be the first to go, then your worthless friends.” His voice was so warped.

But his words, she knew they were meant to scare her, but they didn’t, not really. They pissed her the fuck off. She stood up and with a yell tackled Hawkmoth down and started hitting and scratching and doing whatever she could.

* * *

Damien was having a pretty okay day, despite his father’s strange request for tomorrow, he had been musing about it all day. Especially because apparently the request came from Quinn and Ivy, It was about a teenager, now that wasn’t really strange, they have asked the Bat family to help out kids before, no the weird thing was the nickname they gave her. ‘Mari-gold.’ His father had been surprised by that too, but he just made sure Damien would look out for the girl, since her class was going to be visiting his school and taking some classes there as well. He, of course agreed, but he just had a weird feeling about the class, it wasn’t a bad feeling per say, but it was troubling all the same.

Of course, the day took a turn when he got a text from Grayson telling him to suit up. He immediately did so and turned on the coms.

“Care to share what the problem is?” He asked as he jumped in the Batmobile with his father, Drake jumped on his bike.

“Two-Face and Scarecrow are here at Wayne Tower, Marinette took them down, it was awesome, but she ran when we were trying to get everyone out, Scarecrow was focused on her, I didn’t have time to talk her out of it. I was fighting Two-Face and some of his goons. I don’t know where they are, but they still have to be inside, some of the goons are still following me and some are going after the other hostages.” Dick explained. Damien saw his father twitch at the name ‘Marinette.’

“We’ll be right there.” And that was the end of the conversation, they made it to Wayne Tower in record time, Drake and Todd started dealing with the goons guarding the outside while Damien and his father made their way inside.

“You go after the missing student.”

He immediately took off down the hall trying to think of where this girl could have gone when he heard commotion coming from the west offices, he placed his potable gas mask on before running over to the open door, he could hear sounds of pain and he ran faster. He was ashamed to admit that what he saw made him pause, this tiny girl was on top of Scarecrow with a crazed look in her eye as she beat his face into the ground, she was yelling, it took awhile to recognize she was yelling in French.

Her head snapped up and she stopped punching Scarecrow, her eyes narrowed and she growled at him, he didn’t want to hurt her, but it was obvious she inhaled Scarecrow’s fear toxin, he took slow steps towards her, and she tracked his movements. He would have to be careful, obviously this girl knew how to fight, he would have to go on the defense, unless of course her attacks became lethal. She was yelling at him now, something about a cat. He couldn’t focus on that though, his main priority was to get her injected with the antidote to the fear toxin without hurting her, and without getting hurt in the process. Though he doubted she could do much damage to him because of the Kevlar in his suit. Still, he had to be on guard.

He watched as she slowly got off of Scarecrow and started to back away from him, he followed slowly, he didn’t want to cause her any more fear than what she was already seeing and hearing. It was like a dance between them, he didn’t take his eyes off her for a second, he couldn’t, he didn’t know what her next move would be. Either she would make a run for it, or attack him. They were at a impasse, or well they had been if Todd hadn’t run into the room yelling for Robin. She moved so fast as she grabbed a chair and smashed a window open, only to run out of it, he knew she had to have cut herself on the glass. He cursed at Red Hood as she ran after her, they had to grab her before she attacked someone or hurt herself. Red Hood followed behind, but they both stopped when they saw Ivy’s vines wrapped around the girl, Harley was petting the girl’s head and whispering something to her before a flower bloomed in front of her and sprayed her with some kind of pollen that caused her to pass out.

“We’re taking her. Tell Batman he knows where to find us.” Ivy ground out.

“Like hell you’re taking her!” Todd yelled.

But it seemed like the two were not up for arguing or fighting as Harley threw down several smoke bombs, when the smoke cleared, all three were gone, except for a purse which Damien guessed belonged to the girl, he picked it up and looked around, they couldn’t have gotten far, but his gut told him to do what Ivy said and tell his father what they said. Todd seemed to have other ideas as he cursed colorfully and ran down the nearest alley.

Just a normal day in Gotham.

* * *

**Why Me?** _@Coffee_Is_My_Blood_

Okay….I’m still in slight shock, I was in a hostage situation, which isn’t why I’m in shock. Hostage situations are like a normal Tuesday here, but guys…little lost Wayne girl kicked Two-Face and Scarecrow’s asses….she’s so tiny???????

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are very much appreciated <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mama Ivy and Mama Harley are taking no shit when it comes to their Marigold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay! I was on a mini vacation and school is kicking my ass. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Sorry for the shortness, next chapter should be longer!

Harley was seething, she had half a mind to go teach Marigold’s class a lesson or two on why Gotham is as dangerous as it is known for. The more time that passed, the more appealing the thought got, especially when she looked back to see Ivy fussing over a still unconscious Marinette along with Harley’s babies. Bud and Lou were lying on either side of Marinette, already taken in with the girl and she wasn’t even conscious to do it! Now that was impressive enough, but all of Ivy’s plants were obviously taken with her as well, they stood straighter and bloomed bigger in her presence. That had made Ivy particularly happy for at least a while till she remembered how Mari was. The girl winced in her sleep and Ivy ran her fingers through her hair with a worried frown stuck on her face.

It was a good thing they had been listening to the police monitors that day, normally they didn’t do that but once they left Mari, they both were still on edge and decided to turn on the radio just to make sure nothing happened to her. They had been keeping their ears open just in case anyone said anything about a French class in trouble, or even just a French girl, or even about the newly dubbed Lost Wayne Girl. They had laughed about that last night because it was true, she did look like a Wayne, but Ivy vowed they had to keep her away from Wayne so he couldn’t adopt her officially. It was a good thing they were listening in because they heard about Scarecrow and Two-Face’s attack on Wayne Tower, which involved a certain French class. Harley had never seen Ivy and her plants bristle so fast, she had to dodge a couple stray thorns that grew in, but she couldn’t blame Ivy. The two of them immediately rushed over to Wayne Tower just in time to see a bright yellow school bus take off and for Marinette break a window and climb through in a hurry. She was yelling in French and she had that far off yet terrified look in her eyes that all of Crane’s victims had.

The petit girl had immediately locked her sights on them and immediately got in a defensive stance as she continued to yell, Harley’s heart broke when she saw the injuries Marinette got from the broken window and the tears that continued to fall. They both didn’t want to fight their little Marigold, so Ivy made quick work of using her vines to secure Marinette before a flower bloomed to help knock the poor girl out. They were both in no mood to deal with Red Head and Baby Bird so they left quickly with a word to the vigilantes that Batman knew where to find them. It was true, he had helped pay for their little hideout/apartment/safe house ever since they turned from rogues to anti-heroes of sorts.

Harley took in some deep breath before she sat next to her Daffo-doll and rested her head on her shoulder. “How’s she doin’?”

Ivy turned and gave Harley a small kiss on the cheek before sighing and petting Marinette’s hair once more. “Better, the antidote is taking effect.”

“That’s good, how are her cuts?”

“Better too, none were deep enough to warrant stiches so that’s good.” Harley looked at Ivy, as Ivy watched over Marinette with a worried frown. Harley wished they could keep their little Marigold, Harley would wrap her in so many layers of bubble wrap just to ensure she’d be safe. Harley heard a soft knock at the door and pressed a kiss to Ivy’s temple before she stood up and walked to the door. She tiptoed slightly to look through the peep hole to see a dark depressing cape.

“B-Man’s here.” She told Ivy before she opened the door and bowed with an exaggerated bow. “How kind of you to use the door this time Batsy.”

“How is she?” Business as usual, one of these days Harley will crack Batman into making a joke with her.

“Better.” Was Ivy’s curt response as she stood up and walked to stand beside Harley. She gave her Pam-a-lamb a smile as she held her hand before looking up at the Dark Knight.

“You need to get her out of that class Batsy. I’m not joking. Either you do it or we take care of that class of hers.” Harley said with a smile full of steel.

“You can’t just kidnap her Quinn.”

“They left her.” Ivy hissed out. “Her class left her, knowing what she was facing, knowing she was alone. I don’t care about the legal matter of taking her from her class or not. Hell, let the French government come after us, but I’ll be damned if you let her anywhere near those maggots again.”

Harley watched as Ivy and Batman seemed to be communicating telepathically, neither moved, neither blinked. It was a wee bit creepy. Harley was going to say something when they heard a groan and the rustling of sheets, they all turned to see Marinette sitting up in bed, Harley wasted no time in scooping the little girl into her arms, but she was mindful of her cuts. “Marigold!”

“Harley?” Marinette’s voice was hoarse, probably from all the yelling she had done.

“It’s okay Marigold, Mama Ivy and Harley gotcha! You gave us a little scare doll.” Harley mumbled into her hair. She felt Marinette’s arms clumsily wrap around her.

“Oh Sapling, you’re finally awake!” Ivy said as rushed over to Harley and the girl in her arms.

* * *

Bruce didn’t know what to make of the situation first Robin reports that the missing student, one Marinette Dupain-Cheng beat the shit out of Scarecrow, and he will deny to this day the little proud smile he gave at the news, then that Marinette was essentially kidnapped by Ivy and Harley. Really, he should have expected it, they seemed very attached to the girl, even from just the brief interaction they had. Then there was having to deal with the fact that her class had in fact left her behind. He was raging, but if there is anything that Wayne’s are good at, it’s suppressing their emotions.

Robin had told him what Ivy and Harley had said before he handed him a small pink bag, saying the girl dropped it in all the chaos. He could tell that Damian wanted to come with him to retrieve the girl, but he needed him to stay and do damage control. He knew it wasn’t what his son wanted to hear but it needed to be done. There was also the situation with Dick, Dick was one of those people that were never quick to anger, even if you wronged him, he was upset and hurt and disappointed, but it took a lot to get him well and truly angry. So, it surprised Batman when Dick and he made quick work of the leftover goons and Dick realized the French class left. He growled, he honestly growled and punched the wall before he stalked out the room yelling something about getting Tim involved.

It was all around a weird day, and believe him, he has had his fair share of weird days being Batman as well as Bruce Wayne, but nothing could prepare him for the sight of Poison Ivy calling a little girl Sapling and hugging her close, and seeing Harley Quinn refer to herself and Ivy as ‘Mama’ while holding the small girl close to her.

He cleared his throat, feeling a little awkward with breaking the moment. “Miss Dupain-Cheng.”

The little girl looked up at him with wide eyes, “Mon dieu…. Batman?”

“We need to talk about what happened today.” He said simply, he noticed how both Ivy and Harley refused to step away from the girl, even she looked unwilling to leave their hug.

It took some time but she convinced Harley to let her down, she squared her shoulders and took in a deep breath before she walked up to him. Her hands made a motion to grab something on her, when she grabbed nothing her face drained of color. She started patting herself and rushing to the bed, throwing covers around this way and that way, all the while muttering something about a tiki. Harley and Ivy were trying to ask what was wrong but the small girl didn’t seem to hear them. She kept muttering about a tiki and then her bag. It was then that Bruce realized what she was looking for. He quickly pulled out the small pink coin purse and cleared his throat once more.

“This what you’re looking for?”

“Yes! Oh, thank goodness, thank you so much!” She gushed as she snatched her bag and held it close to her chest. She was shaking slightly; she really must have had something important in the bag but that was beside the point.

“Miss Dupain-Cheng, I need you to tell me what happened before I take you down to the police station. Your parents will need to be called as well as your chaperon.” He explained.

He regretted the words the moment they left his mouth, the poor girl once more became pale, her shaking became more violent and her eyes looked far away in thought. Ivy and Harley frowned at him and hugged the girl once more.

“You better come up with something else Bat. I told you, we’re not letting her anywhere near those rotten meat sacks she calls her class and the spineless wench of a teacher.” Ivy stated once more,

Bruce was thinking the same thing, he couldn’t believe a teacher could be so irresponsible, especially in basically the crime capitol of the country. He felt his anger rising and took a couple deep breaths to calm himself down. Batman could only so so much for the small girl…. but oh, Bruce Wayne could definitely interfere. He didn’t want to stop the whole trip for the class, but it was obvious something was going on and this small girl was at the center of whatever shitstorm that was.

“I know who can help.” He said.

“Who?” Harley asked as she held the poor girls face to her chest, likely smothering the girl.

“Bruce Wayne.”

* * *

**Katie Hunderson** _@whatsuppartyppl_

Yo… work was crazy with the hostage situation and all. And that little girl being a total bada$$, but what truly takes the cake was when the girl’s class left her. You heard me, LEFT HER, to deal with Scarecrow on her own, and once Dick Grayson heard, you punched a hole through the wall. #teacherbetterwatchout #littlelostwayne #shessotinybutsobadass #someonetakethatteachersliscense

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette woke up very confused and the confusion only grows. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again sorry for the wait guys, school and work again, and my sister had surgery so i've been helping out with helping her get around the house and the baby.

Marinette watched as Harley and Ivy just stared at Batman with very unimpressed stares, Ivy had her arms crossed while Harley was making an ‘x’ with her arms and shaking her head really fast. From Marinette’s research of one Mr. Bruce Wayne was that he was beloved by almost all of Gotham. He took his work seriously, donated to many charities that he believed in, had a big family that he loved, so she had no idea why Harley and Ivy were acting like she was some sacrificial lamb or something. She looked at Batman, which by the way, holyshititwasBatman, and he seemed just as confused as she was, though he hid it better. He seemed to try to be asking them something, but Harley kept shouting no a lot while she shook her head, Ivy seemed to try to make her stop as well.

Finally, Harley snapped out of it, only for her to grab Marinette and hug her close to her chest. “Wayne? No. Nu-uh, no way!” Harley said. Marinette was way more confused now, what did they have against Bruce Wayne?

“Yeah, I have to agree with Harls.” Ivy joined in on the hug, further squishing Marinette between the two of them.

“Whash wong wif hm?” Marinette’s muffled voice asked. Only then did Ivy and Harley realize they were squishing her between them. They immediately loosened their hug, but they didn’t let go of her as the looked at Batman.

“Look at her Batsy! She’s definitely Wayne material, everyone’s been tweeting about it.” Harley said as she squished Marinette’s face in one hand, making her look at Batman, she tried to give him a sheepish smile, but she really couldn’t even try with her cheeks as squished as they were. “And I am not about to let Wayne Boy adopt her!”

“You guys make it sound like he’s a serial adopter.” Batman said as he crossed his arms.

“Have you seen his family?” Ivy drawled out with a raised eyebrow.

“He hears the word orphan, or he sees a kid with dark hair and colored eyes, they get adopted in like an hour!” Harley exclaimed as she finally let go of Marinette, she was currently trying to get feeling back into her face, Harley had quite the grip. “No way, Marigold is our baby so he can keep his billionaire hands off of her.”

Batman sighed and dragged a hand over his face, “ He’s not going to adopt her, believe me, but he is the only one who can claim her as a temporary guardian, he’s already spoken to her parents and they have given their permission to Mr. Wayne to be her temporary guardian for the rest of the trip. It would be in her best interest, as much as I’m sure she’d love to stay with you guys, you have a long list of enemies.”

Marinette saw where he was coming from but she was still sad, she really liked Harley and Ivy, but since Mr. Wayne had gotten her parents permission to be her guardian then that was that, and it really was a smart move, though she dreaded calling her parents that night, no doubt Mr. Wayne told them what had happened since the trip started. She just hoped neither of her parents were angry enough to attract an akuma while she was in Gotham, she had the horse miraculous, but still she would rather not have to face her parents as the first akuma to happen while she was on the trip. Though she would rather there be no akumas while she was on her trip, but she knew she would be asking too much at that point, but battling an akuma meant fighting it alone, well she had Viperion and Ryuuko, but she always felt off balance in those battles. Something was always telling her something wasn’t right, and she knew what it was, she was missing her other half, Chat stopped coming to battles, at first it was because he got stuck in his civilian form and couldn’t get away without revealing who he was, then it was a “strategic” move, and then…then there weren’t any excuses, only anger at Ladybug, him saying it’s her fault that he has been staying away because she was being stubborn and not wanting to see the truth. Fu knew about it, he had been trying to talk to Adrien about giving back the ring on his own but he hadn’t been successful. They thought that maybe Plagg would be able to take the miraculous away and bring it back to them but that’s when Tikki said she felt a shift in Plagg. When she went to visit him, without Marinette knowing, she found out that Adrien had ordered Plagg to not take the ring from him. The only option left was taking it by force, and as much as Master Fu tried to reassure Marinette he could do it, she didn’t want him anywhere near Adrien, since he knew he was the Guardian, and though he may not be working directly with Hawkmoth, he wasn’t actively trying to stop him either and that was just as bad.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she felt Bud and Lou pressing their noses to her legs and hands, she smiled down at them and gave the hyenas some head skritches, which wasn’t the weirdest thing she had done but it would go on the list.

“Okay fine, then we get her weekends!” She heard Harley declare as she pointed dramatically at Batman, who was looking more and more irritated as the conversation went on.

“This isn’t a custody battle Quinn. I told you who she was going to be staying with, I’m sure Mr. Wayne wouldn’t mind her visi-“

“Visits plus weekends.” She said as she crossed her arms and glared at the Bat.

Marinette couldn’t help but laugh, even more so when everyone just stared at her, and even more when the hyenas joined in. It ended up with her on the floor giggling and trying not to break into another fit of laughter, but it wasn’t easy when Lou and Bud decided to lay beside her and continue their laughing and licking her face. When she finally calmed down she stood up and wiped a tear from her face, she can’t remember the last time she laughed like that. “With all due respect Batman, I would really like to stay on weekends if we could work something out.”

“There, see, our Sapling wants to.” Ivy said as she walked up to Marinette and placed a hand on her shoulder gently, the two shared a smile before looking back at Batman and Harley. It was quiet as they waited for the Dark Knight to make up his mind on the whole thing, until he sighed, and Marinette knew it meant they had won the mini argument.

“If, and I’m only saying if, If her parents give her permission I’ll bring her here on the weekends. Now it’s getting late and it would be the best if I got Ms. Dupain-Cheng to Wayne Manor so she can get settled in and that way someone can take a look at her injuries.” Batman said as he walked to the door.

It was then that Marinette remembered she probably did get hurt, she honestly didn’t remember much from the attack, just the smoke, and then waking up. She looked down and noticed that there was leaves wrapped around different parts of her arms and when she lifted on up she could smell and see some kind of salve on her small cuts. She briefly wondered how those got there but reminded herself that Ivy was probably the one to do it, she smiled at the two women, “He’s right.”

Harley’s bottom lip waivered before she hugged Marinette close and held out a phone to Marinette. “Put your number in Mari-gold, we’ll be sure to call and check up on you okay?”

Marinette chuckled and did as she was told before giving Harley a kiss on the cheek and giving Ivy a hug before patting Lou and Bud on the head. “I’ll let you guys know what my parents say about staying over on the weekends. You guys have a good rest of your day.” She said as she joined Batman at the door, she waved one last time before leaving the apartment and following Batman down to the Batmobile. She couldn’t help the little squeak that came out when she saw the infamous vehicle. It looked just like the pictures! She noted how well it was taken care off, no scratches, no dents, if she had to, she would guess it went through maintenance a lot to keep it in the shape it was.

“Get in.” Batman said as he opened the door on the passenger side for her. She nodded and walked over before sliding in and automatically locating the seatbelt to buckle in.

“Thank you.” She said softly as he closed the door.

Once inside and once they took off to where Marinette guessed was Wayne Manor the ride was mostly quiet, while it was nice to gather her thoughts, the quiet was too loud, as odd as that sounded, it was. It was caging her and she wracked her brain for Something, anything to talk about, but she also didn’t want to bother Batman with idle chitchat, but she also really wanted to know what all had happened when she was passed out, she still felt anxious, like anything could happen, but she figured it was just a side effect of the fear toxin.

“What’s….What’s going to happen to Mme. Bustier?” She finally asked.

She could feel Batman glance at her before he answered, “She, along with your school are being investigated.”

“Is…Is she going to lose her job?”

“It is a high possibility.”

“Oh.”

“It’s not your fault. Whatever happens is because of your teacher’s own incompetence. The fact that she left you, not once, but multiple times by yourself in Gotham is a prime example why she shouldn’t be teaching. According to Mr. Grayson, your teacher wasn’t even worried about leaving behind yesterday, she even said she trusted you to be responsible enough to find them on your own.” Batman explained, as he did, she could feel his anger like the push of a magnet. “It was her responsibility; one she took lightly.”

She nodded along with his explanation as she picked at a loose thread on her purse which she held onto closely, she would never let it out of her sight again. She knew it wasn’t her fault for losing it but Marinette couldn’t help but feel guilty about leaving Tikki and Kaalki in their own without her there. “So what happens now?”

“Now? We take you to your temporary home for the remainder of you trip, Mr. Wayne will explain where you’ll go from there tomorrow. I’m sure you want to rest after the day you’ve had.”

Wasn’t that an understatement?

* * *

Damien paced in the living room, his father said he was going to retrieve the Dupain-Cheng girl from Ivy and Quinn, and he said it shouldn’t take long but that had been hours ago. He wasn’t worried, no if anything he was annoyed, that girl needed to be looked over for any remaining toxins and see that her injuries are taken care of. There was also the fact they had her stuff waiting for her in one of the guest bedrooms and Alfred gave him the task of showing miss Dupain-Cheng where she would be staying. Damien of course argued against it but Alfred had put his foot down and told Damien she would probably more comfortable with his since he was around her age. He had heard that reasoning before, and each time the person he met close to his age tended to hate him, or be frightened of him, so he wasn’t exactly eager to formally meet the girl.

But that would be a lie, he wanted to meet her because she was interesting. She fought back even when under the control of the fear toxin, she didn’t let her fear stop her from taking action and that was something he admired. Especially for a girl her size, you would never expect it, and from what Grayson had told him, his intrigue only grew. She was put in a situation where any normal person would have cried and probably soiled themselves, but not her, she accessed the situation and took action to get everyone away as safely as she could manage. She took down multiple men twice or three times her size, and she sacrificed her safety for everyone else’s. You would think her classmates would have been grateful or worried, but no, not even the teacher was worried. Well some of the classmates were worried but that was a small group, when it should have been the whole class. Damian grit his teeth and clenched his fists; he could understand why Grayson was down in the cave sparring with Todd.

When him and Todd went to go check on Grayson, they found him barely holding himself back from completely exploding on the class. They had walked out to see their brother yelling after the bus the class had run onto to and drove off like they didn’t just leave behind their class president to die. They had watched as Grayson let out a growl and punched the nearest thing which was someone’s car, he left quite the dent but it didn’t look like any of the employees blamed him or were angry with him, they all looked just as mad as Grayson had.

With a huff and stretch off his arm to show his watch he looked at the time for the umpteenth time in the past hour. He was so close to just calling his father, identities be damned, but that’s when he heard the doorbell ring. He immediately vaulted over a couch and sped towards the front door, Alfred was already there, because of course he was, even though Damien had last seen him down in the cave with Drake doing research on Marinette and her school. He stood there and quickly fixed the collar of his shirt as Alfred raised a brow but opened the door.

“Ah, Batman, we were expecting you much earlier.” Alfred said, Damien had to hide a smirk at the fact that Alfred was scolding Batman.

“Sorry,” A small voice said and Damien turned to look at the girl, their eyes met and he saw the same brilliant blue he had when he had met her as Robin, thankfully they were devoid of the anger and fear he had seen. “That’s my fault, I didn’t wake up for a while and when he came to get me Ivy, Harley, Bud, and Lou didn’t want me to go.”

“We had a disagreement but they finally stopped hugging her so we could leave. I have to go but I assure you Marinette, you are in good hands.” Batman said before he went to “leave.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss. Dupain-Cheng, Master Damian here will show you to your room.” Alfred said with a soft smile for the girl, one she returned.

“Thank you, you can just call me Marinette.” She said with a small blush.

“I am Alfred Pennyworth, the family’s butler, if you need anything just ask.” With that being said Alfred walked towards the kitchen, probably to prepare dinner.

Damien cleared his throat to get her attention and when it did, Damien found himself feeling rather pleased that her attention was on him, but he didn’t really know why. Maybe it was because as soon as he took her to her room that would be it and he could go get a sparring session in before dinner and bug Drake about what he had found out. He knew that what he had been finding out was only pissing his brothers off more and more, and he wanted to know exactly what the girl had gone through and been forced to go through or put up with, “You’re room is this way.”

“Oh, thank you, Damien, was it? I’m Marinette.”

“I am aware. I heard you telling Pennyworth.” He knew it probably sounded condescending, but he wasn’t going to change the way he spoke, if people didn’t like it then so be it, they had no obligation to like him just like he had no obligation to like them.

“I know, but I didn’t introduce myself to you, I introduced myself to him, and I didn’t want to come across as rude.” Marinette said matter-of-factly as she sped up to walk side to side with Damien rather than following from behind like she had been doing.

She really was interesting.

* * *

**Mary Mary** _@quitecontrary_

Cryptid spotted! It’s seriously so weird to see it out in daylight, I always think it’s going to burst from direct sunlight. #onlyingotham #teamvampirebat #batmanistotallyavampire

*picture of Batmobile out in daylight*

**Hi I’m Trisha** _@watchthedoorashley_

RE: Cryptid Spotted! It’s seriously so wei….

Dude not the vampire Batman shit again. Go back to tumblr.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR THE WAIT
> 
> Marinette's first morning with the Wayne family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT, DECEMBER IS A BUSY MONTH FOR ME ALSO I GOT HELLA DEPRESSED AND GOT A BAD CASE OF WRITERS BLOCK
> 
> I know it's not an excuse but i am really sorry! Thank you guys for being patient.

Morning came sooner than Marinette expected, though to be fair she didn’t exactly sleep last night, she had texted her friends and had updated them on the situation, afterwards she thought about the situation as a whole. For a while, all she felt was numb, numb when she remembered what had happened. She could still remember exactly what she had seen while under the influence of the fear toxin, and the images haunted her, they really were something out of her nightmares. The Adrien/ Chat Noir-stitched-together-monstrosity image made her want to puke, her had hitched remembering what the hallucination had been yelling at her, screaming they were meant to be, that she was nothing without him, that he would make her love him…She had meditated for hours after she remembered that. There was also the fact she was in a new place, and as nice as they had been, she couldn’t just fall asleep, that was a lot of trust to just give. It made her feel guilty in a way, the Wayne’s had been nothing but nice, even Damian, who she came to find out, was not known for being nice, and though she wanted to trust them, her very being sung their praises and told her she could do so, her brain threw every betrayal of her trust that had happened since becoming Ladybug, those memories were holding her back. She had been trying to work through them and accept that they happened and that they no longer hurt or held her back, but she couldn’t, she felt the hurt every time she remembered and the wounds felt fresh as they bled once again. The wounds would scab, and she knew she had to give them time to heal, but in order to heal, Fu had told her to face what had happened, she took that to mean she had to pick at the scabs, but then they would bleed all over again and she would basically be back to square one.

“Marinette?”

Marinette snapped out of her thoughts and looked over at Tikki and gave the kwami a small smile. “Morning Tikki,”

“Morning…what are you doing up? You’re usually not up yet.” Her kwami looked at her before narrowing her eyes and placed her tiny hands on her hips, “Did you even sleep?”

“Uuuuuuuuuuummmmm….” Marinette flashed Tikki a sheepish smile before laughing and using her covers to deflect the clothes that Tikki started to throw at her. She stayed hidden until she was certain Tikki was done throwing things and slowly lowered her blanket to see Tikki just shaking her head at her, she once again gave her kwami a sheepish smile. Cupping her palms, she stretched out her arms towards Tikki, who gave a big sigh before smiling back at Marinette and lowering herself to sit in her hands. Marinette brought her close and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

“Wake me up if you can’t sleep, okay?” Tikki said after a few seconds of silence, she nodded, even though she probably wouldn’t wake up Tikki, she needed her sleep too even of she was basically a mini god.

Before Tikki could call her out, there was a knock on Marinette’s door. They both turned and stared at the door, they both just continued to stare until Marinette recognized the energy behind the door. It was Alfred, the only way she knew that was because she could sense the use of a Miraculous on him, it was an old energy, left over from when he must have used one. It was getting easier to sense that kind of stuff, as well as sense who may be a kwami’s chosen wielder, Tikki and Wayzz had explained that she wouldn’t be able to tell exactly if a wielder is a chosen, only if they might be, only the kwami’s themselves could tell. If Marinette was right, then Alfred was possibly the chosen of Duusuu, she frowned and placed a hand over her heart at the thought of the kwami, she could feel Duusuu’s despair, his worry, and she could feel the pain of his damaged Miraculous. Apparently it wasn’t a common thing among Guardians, Marinette had asked Fu about it and he had just stared at her in surprise and awe for a good couple of minutes before he explained that it meant she was a True Guardian, there weren’t many and it was why the Order of the Miraculous began to train Guardians. They couldn’t rely on there being a True Guardian every time one was needed, and during Fu’s lifetime he confessed to only knowing and interacting with one and that was before the Temple was destroyed.

“Miss Marinette breakfast is ready.” Alfred’s message was muffled slightly by the door.

Marinette huffed as she opened the door, “Alfred, I told you just Marinette was fine.”

“Well, Just Marinette, breakfast is ready if you would like to join the family.” Alfred shot back with a small smile; it was more like a smirk but it made her laugh all the same.

“Thank you, I’ll be right down.” She watched as Alfred nodded and walked off, presumably towards the dining room where everyone was. The thought made her tense, but she reasoned it was better to meet them all sooner rather than later, so she squared her shoulders and headed back into her room to quickly get dressed. She threw on some thick black leggings that had soft gray stripes on them and ladybug themed skirt that puffed out a little, her top was made to match the leggings. She brushed out her hair and scrunched her nose at how it had bent in certain places and fluffed out in others thanks to her pigtails from yesterday, she sighed and ran a brush through the water in her sink (how crazy was that? She had a whole bathroom in her room!) and quickly threw her hair up in a bun and tied a red ribbon over it and let the ends stick up to mimic antennae. Tikki gave her a fond smile and wink before she zipped into Marinette’s purse so the two could head down for breakfast.

It was only once she got out of her room that she realized, she had absolutely no idea where the dining room was and had to restrain herself from knocking her head on her door. She was about to try and sense out Alfred’s energy but as she did so, she sensed a heavy toxic energy, she could almost imagine the toxic green it would be if she could see it. It made her throat close up and made her defenses rise, she slowly turned around, trying not to seem on edge, but also trying not to make her stance open only to come face to face with Damian with his hand reaching out as though to touch her shoulder. She hid a wince, she was glad she had sensed him, otherwise he might have ended up on the floor.

“Morning Damian!” She greeted cheerfully.

“Dupain-Cheng. Father came to the realization that you may not know your way to the dining room.” Marinette bit back a smile at his formal way of talking, she had a feeling he would take it as her laughing at him.

“You can call me Marinette you know,” she waved her hand forward as a way to say ‘lead the way.’ Thankfully Damian recognized what she wasn’t saying and started to walk with Marinette walking beside him. She would have felt awkward trying to talk to him if she trailed behind him the entire way.

“I am aware.” Was the only reply she got back, she couldn’t help but pout a bit, she was going to maybe be a little snarky before she heard Damian clear his throat and look off to the side. “How are your injuries?”

She had nearly stopped walking but pushed herself to continue, she hadn’t expected him to ask that, and honestly, she really hadn’t remembered them, but now that they were on her mind, she felt the dull sting of them. “Good, they sting a little but not too bad. I’ve definitely had worse.”

“Have you now?”

“Ah, yeah,” Marinette could feel herself blush as she rubbed an arm, “I’m super clumsy so I’m pretty used to bruises and small scrapes.”

“You? Clumsy?” He asked with a raised brow, almost like he didn’t believe her. Well that was a first, she had never had to convince anyone of her clumsiness, they just knew.

“Yeah, really. One time I had to serve macarons at a movie premier and ended up dropping two plates.” She blabbed out, “There’s also that one time I was walking backwards so I could get a better picture of the sky, I ended up tripping over the base of a light and down a small case of stairs.”

A small blink of his eyes was the only indication of Damian’s surprise and maybe disbelief, he seemed like the type or person that didn’t show his emotions much, or rather he didn’t know how. “I find that hard to believe, especially after what my brother told us.”

“Your brother? Who’s your brother?” Marinette asked as they walked into the dining room, she didn’t get an answer from Damian because she felt herself being lifted into a hug, she looked up to see her tour guide from yesterday. “Mr. Grayson!”

“I’m so gad you’re okay!” He cried out.

“Dammit Grayson, unhand her!” Damian growled.

Marinette just looked between the two, then to the others in the room, they didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with Mr. Grayson being there, actually the more she looked around, the more pictures she spotted, then she looked up once more to Mr. Grayson then over to Damian. “I take it this is the brother you mentioned?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Aww don’t be that way Dames!”

“Grayson, do not make me repeat myself a third time, unhand her.”

“It’s okay Damian! No harm no foul, or at least I think that is how the saying goes, but as much as I love hugs, I would rather have my feet touching the ground.” She admitted sheepishly, Mr. Grayson cursed softly and set her down before he gave her a toothy grin.

“Sorry about that, I’m just glad to see you okay, I was…really worried after what happened yesterday. Also you can call me Dick (“Because that’s what you ar-OW!).” Mr. Grayson- no Dick said as he patted her head.

Marinette smiled up at him and gave him a small hug to show she wasn’t uncomfortable or mad. “It’s okay, I’m well, just some minor scrapes and bruises.”

He looked like he wanted to say more but that was when Bruce Wayne walked over to them and held a hand out to her, she took it and gave it a firm shake along with giving him a smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Dupain-Cheng, although I wish it was under better circumstances, please allow me to welcome you to our home.”

“Don’t make her think we’re civilized Bruce, it would be a lie!” A man with black hair with a streak in it said loudly with a smirk, Marinette could feel the energy that was stuck on Damian, on him too.

Marinette giggled at the glare Damian sent the boy and the sigh Bruce released, “I apologize about my sons.”

“No need to apologize,” she said with a smile as she waved to the boy with the streak in his hair, he shot her back finger guns causing her to giggle once more.

“I do believe I invited Marinette down for breakfast not to mingle, though we can do that afterwards, I assume she must be famished since she had no dinner last night.” Alfred said with a raised brow, it was amazing how fast everyone took their seats, Marinette chose to sit by Damian, she didn’t notice the shocked looks she got.

“Is there anything I can help out with Alfred?”

The man gave her a soft smile and shook his head. “Everything is prepared, and it’s really no trouble to bring everything out.”

“Are you sure?”

“Quite. No need to worry, it is routine at this point, I dare say I would probably be able to do it in my sleep,” He said with a wink as he made his way to what she assumed was the kitchen.

That made her smile, she looked over at Bruce who gave her a small smile, “I know Alfred said it wasn’t the time to mingle but I would like to introduce you to everyone, some aren’t here but you will meet them at some point. You’ve already met the eldest, Richard Grayson, we call him Dick. Second we have Jason Todd,” The boy with the white streak gave her a small wave, “Timothy Drake, we call him Tim (“I call him an annoyance.”), the sleep deprived boy sitting next to Jason gave her a small nod, she gave one back. “And you’ve already met Damian.”

“It’s nice to meet all of you!” She said with a smile as she looked at all of them, she was surprised at how big the family was, but apparently there was more she had yet to meet. Suddenly, Ivy and Harley’s joke about the man being a serial adopter didn’t seem so farfetched as she had originally believed. Speaking of Harley and Ivy, “Oh, Mr. Wayne, I had wanted to speak with you about Harley and Ivy actually. Do you have time after breakfast?”

“I had actually wanted to speak with you as well, the police want to speak with you about what happened, and I’m sure your parents would like to hear your side of the story. And please, you can call me Bruce.” Marinette nodded and looked down at her hands, she kind of forgot she would have to speak to someone about what happened, and what had happened on the trip so far, despite them not being there long. She could already hear her mom yelling and cursing up a storm, she really hoped her mother would not be akumatized because of this. Her maman had avoided being akumatized so far and she was very proud of her, but she knew if there was anything that set her mother off, it was someone hurting her daughter. She thought back to the near akumatization of her and her mother when she was expelled and shuddered at the memory. Hawkmoth had ben so close, and she never wanted him to get that close to akumatizing her or her mother ever again.

Her thoughts wandered to her class, she would have to send a message to the group chat to let her friends know she was okay, she could already hear their worry over her, and could feel her guilt rise. She knew she had no reason to feel guilty but it was easier said than done to not feel guilty over causing them worry. She wanted to see them and assure them that she was alright and give them hugs. That’s when a thought slammed to the front of her mind. “Wait. What about school today?”

“You have been excused for the day…I am sorry about not notifying you about that change but I figured a day off to process would be beneficial.” Bruce explained with what Marinette thought was a sheepish expression, hmm, it seemed as though how they showed emotion was a hereditary thing for the Waynes. Or something like that.

“Thank you. Really, thank you for everything.” She mumbled softly, thankfully Alfred arrived and started to place things on the table for breakfast, it was odd but welcome how lively breakfast was with this family, breakfast with her maman and papa usually was quiet, well with the exception of her and her papa. She smiled as she grabbed some fruit and looked around, it was chaos and Bruce looked like he wanted to spontaneously combust, but she liked it. The noise was a bit much, especially this early in the morning but she didn’t want to offend any of the boys, after a particularly loud shout from Jason to a laughing Dick, Marinette couldn’t hide her wince. The hair on her neck stood up when she felt Damian lean over, she was surprised he was even doing so but she just turned her head slightly towards him, so he knew she was listening.

“If you’re uncomfortable you can just tell them off. I promise you won’t offend them; they’re used to it.” He whispered.

Marinette held back a giggle but smiled at him, “I’m sure they are.”

She could see the corners of Damian’s mouth twitch upward into a small smirk. “If you don’t want to, I would more than happy to do so in your place.”

She did giggle at that, “Let them have their fun.” She chided softly.

“You’re too soft on them. They’re big boys, they can take a scolding.”

“Maybe they can, I’ll save that information for later, I feel like it will come in handy with me staying here for the remainder of my trip.” Marinette said with a small nod, mostly to herself. She was glad to learn she didn’t have to walk on eggshells with the boys, though, if she were being honest, she still wouldn’t scold them, she didn’t know they well enough to do so.

Damian had simply hummed as an answer and leaned back in his chair to resume eating, she didn’t know why that made her a little sad but she simply looked over at him and smiled before she returned to eating the fruit she had grabbed. She was surprised to see how much the family ate for breakfast, she had read that Americans did have big breakfasts, but she didn’t think it was like this. Though maybe that was just this family. In France, breakfast wasn’t as big an affair as in America, and it usually wasn’t as hearty. It was usually something small and sometimes sweet. Her favorite thing for breakfast was either her papa’s croissants or dipping their bread and some fruit in her chocolate milk.

In any case she was finished before everyone and walked over to Bruce to let him know she was going to go call her parents and friends to catch them up on the situation. She had tried to take her plate into the kitchen to wash it but Alfred firmly denied she do so since she was the guest, she would have to find someway to repay them, but she would worry about that later. With a small wave to Damian she headed up to her room, once inside, she and Tikki shared a smile before she set up her laptop so she could video call her parents, she knew they were probably busy seeing as how it was 2 PM there but she figured she should still try. She was surprised when the call went through the first time but the sight of her maman and papa made her melt into a smile, especially as they both were talking at the same time and she couldn’t understand what they were trying to say. She had never been this far from them before and she could feel herself tear up, she felt Tikki give her cheek as big a hug as she could. Thank goodness kwamis didn’t show up on camera. Marinette giggled and waited patiently for her parents to get the rambling out of their system. When they did, they had a very long talk, as she predicted her parents were not happy, at all. Marinette rushed to calm them and reassure them that she was safe and fine now and told them that Mr. Wayne and her would be calling them back later to discuss what’s going to happen now. She wasn’t exactly looking forward to it but her maman seemed pleased and that was enough for now. Once they hung up Marinette banged her head on the desk that she sat at (but wow she also had a desk in her room! Rich people really liked convenience, didn’t they? It was kind of nice.) she let out a big sigh and whined as she looked at her contacts, she knew she had to call Kagami and Luka and Nathaniel and Marc, and she could already feel their fury, but it needed to be done.

With one more sigh, she sat up straight and nodded in determination as she pressed on Kagami’s contact.

* * *

**Maddie Finch** _@maddicusfinch_

I love that the first thing I hear when I get back to school after being sick with a stomach bug is hearing some sausage haired bimbo talking about how she knows the Waynes and is a close personal friend with all of them. She called Dick…get this…Grey Dickson….yeah #ifeellikepukingmore #herclassmatedtotallybelieveherWTF

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi *waves* Some Damian thoughts about Marinette and her being around and a look into Adrien's thoughts!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all I love you guys XD I made a video where I read out the comments from last chapter so here's a link if you want to watch, I'm thinking of doing the same for this chapter too! 
> 
> Link: https://youtu.be/_XmTowe_tyl

Damian didn’t know what was happening. It had started when he had first woken up, usually his immediate thought was to train or go for a run as soon as he woke up, then shower, then breakfast, then school. That was just his routine, yet, when he woke up this morning his first thought was of Marinette. She was…intriguing to say the least, and though she tried to hide it, he could see how exhausted she was when she arrived last night. That was to be expected though, after everything she had been through, what was strange though was the fact that the exhaustion seemed to seep into her bones, like it was something she couldn’t get rid of and the way she cradled her small bag close to her as though her very life depended on it, that was strange. He figured it was important if she carried it throughout the tour, but the way she held it to her, she acted like it was a lifeline of sorts. It made him regret not looking through it when he had the chance, he knew that was considered rude, and Dick would have scolded him to hell and back had he done so, but he also knew you could tell a lot about someone from what they carried with them at all times. He had had to do so when in the League, but his Father, Pennyworth, and Dick had all lectured him that it was wrong, unless someone was their enemy and you needed information. He didn’t need information on the girl, but there was this strange energy, of sorts, that he felt from within the bag, it wasn’t exactly a familiar energy, but at the same time, he felt as though he should know the energy.

That energy had almost made him open the bag, and he would have had his father not shown up at exactly that moment, after he had relayed, Quinn and Ivy’s message, his father said he was going to pick up the girl and Damian had just handed over the bag. It was the right thing to do, and yet he had beaten himself over the head about it, and he didn’t know why. It was infuriating.

As was the feeling of wanting to check on her when he first woke up, he chalked it up to the strange energy he had felt yesterday, as he didn’t know what else it could be. When Pennyworth had told the family that he had told Marinette that breakfast was ready and she should be down soon, he saw it as the perfect opportunity to gather information with the added bonus of getting away from the hyenas he called brothers. So he snuck away to go escort Marinette down, as it seemed to have slipped everyone’s mind that she probably didn’t know where she should be going and would wander. This was definitely not the kind of house you wanted a guest to wander in, especially if they were inquisitive like Dupain-Cheng seemed to be. From what Greyson had told them she was calculated like Drake, she was stubborn and decided to sacrifice herself for the others, like Todd he had said, but really that was both their natures, she used her small size to her advantage and was much stronger than most anticipated, like Damian himself. When he compared her to him, it only served to add on to his intrigue to begin with.

Once he made his way upstairs, he noticed Marinette standing outside her room and looking down one hall with a tilted head, so his assumption was correct. He had started to reach a hand out to let her know he was there but he noticed her tense up, it was small, almost like she was trying to look at though she wasn’t tense, and had turned around. He had to hold himself back from narrowing his eyes at her, did she…did she sense him coming? Did she really? He didn’t know if he should be impressed or alert, he reasoned he could be both. It wasn’t everyday he met someone like this, or really ever. He could feel that energy again, it wasn’t calling to him in anyway, but it didn’t make his hand twitch for his katana, it was a pulling energy, yet it wasn’t urgent. It confused him greatly, it was coming from Mar-Dupain-Cheng, yet it didn’t seem as though she was the source, or maybe she was…it was frustrating, he was getting more questions than answers.

They exchanged pleasantries, or at least what he considered pleasantries and he had asked about the injuries, she had seemed surprised but what surprised him was that she looked like she only just remembered them, she had even placed a hand on her arm where a cut must have been. Not many people forget injuries, the only people he knew of that did so were people on an adrenaline rush, or metas, or those like him and his family, people who have trained themselves to not notice the smaller, nonlife threatening, injuries. He didn’t know what to do with that information but he would file it away for later, once they got a little closer he would question her about a lot of things that have been bothering him, but that could wait. He could tell by the makeup layered on under her eyes that she didn’t sleep much, or at all really, it was to be expected though, she was, after all in a new place, though he thought due to the Fear Toxin and the antidote, plus whatever pollen Ivy had used to knock the girl out would have left her exhausted enough to pass out.

As they walked they continued their small talk where she admitted she was clumsy, which he was not above calling bullshit on. The girl who took down not only Two-Face, or Scarecrow, but those two added with a handful of henchmen as well. She tried to convince him she was, and he really didn’t understand why, she even seemed to believe it as well as she retold stories of her clumsiness. He had been explaining that he found it hard to believe when Greyson zoomed over And scooped her up in a hug. After that breakfast went on as usual. Chaotically.

Dupain-Cheng seemed to take it in stride and they even spoke more, they leaned towards one another and he didn’t know why he felt this small simmer of pride when she did. She was going out of her way to converse with him and it made him feel…giddy in a way, he furrowed his brows at himself and rubbed a hand absently over his chest. Maybe he was coming down with something. His interest was piqued when he heard Marinette ask about school, if he recalled she and her teacher were supposed to go to the school to make sure everything was taken care of for when the Paris class started attending the school next week. He had to remind himself to praise his father for getting Dupain-Cheng out of that situation, he could tell his brothers and Pennyworth thought the same as they gave him subtle nods. There was no way she was going near that wench of a teacher. They were lucky they were able to hold back Greyson and Todd from doing something stupid like threaten a foreigner with bodily harm.

Damian had nearly spit up his orange juice in surprise when Marinette had asked to talk to his father about Quinn and Ivy, once she got up to go, they had all turned to stare at him and he had simply sighed and ran a hand over his face before giving his sons a deadpan face that screamed how tired he was.

“Harley and Ivy were fighting over…visitation rights for Miss Dupain-Cheng. That is why it took longer than planned to pick her up and bring her here.” He explained.

“Visitation rights?” Todd asked in syllables with wide eyes.

“Like… them coming here as supervised visits, or vice versa but with Batman taking her to their safe house?” Greyson asked with eyes that matched Todd’s in their wideness.

His father sighed once more, “As in she would get to go visit them and they would get to visit her, but they would also get to have her over on weekends.”

It was quiet for a while before the table erupted. Damian would normally yell at his brothers to shut up and listen to their father but he was still stumped over the fact that apparently Quinn and Ivy were so infatuated with Dupain-Cheng that they wanted her over, and over the fact that Mar-Dupain-Cheng didn’t seem opposed to the idea at all. Like, she actually was entertaining the idea, more like she was going to try and see if it was possible. Damian knew Quinn and Ivy were trying to go straight and were more like anti-heroes now rather than the rogues they once were, but that didn’t mean they were ready to care for another human being, let alone Marinette! But what could he do? If he tried to talk to Dupain-Cheng about it she would probably get mad at him and for some odd reason the thought made his chest sting, maybe it was something that he ate. He would have to investigate that later though.

“So the reason you were late yesterday was because you were fighting with Ivy and Quinn over…custody?” He asked.

His father sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “I wouldn’t call it a fight.”

“What would you call it then?” Todd asked with a small laugh of disbelief.

“A…stubborn conversation.”

“I believe that would be called an argument or in other words, a fight, Sir.” Pennyworth said with mirth, not bothering to hide his smirk.

“Thank you, Alfred.” His father groaned out before the boys once again descended into question after question. Knowing he wouldn’t be missing much, Damian excused himself from the table to go train in the Bat Cave, just because he had the day off from school, that didn’t mean he would slack off, even for Dupain-Cheng. Though he made a mental note to see how the talk with her parents went before the family went out for patrol.

That thought made him pause, wht would they tell their new guest while they were away? Marinette wasn’t dumb, far from it in fact, she was really observant, just speaking to her for a short while would reveal that, not to mention the security tape from Wayne Tower. Last night Drake had played it on the Bat Computer for them all to see. It was an eye opener for sure, it was interesting to see the small girl make herself unassuming and just another part of the crowd, how she had conveyed a plan to Grayson without revealing it to anyone else, and the execution of said plan. One thing he did notice was the looks of indifference some of her classmates wore, they infuriated him, they just stood there and watched as there was a gun held to Marinette’s head, and they couldn’t have been bothered to worry for her? The only ones that did look worried were her friends that Grayson had told them about and one blond boy, no, worried was the wrong word for him, he looked more so wound up, like a caged animal knowing they could tear their prey apart given the chance. Damian wasn’t sure who the prey would be. The goons…or Marinette and the thought was worrisome. He didn’t want to invade her privacy, but Damian felt the strong need to look into her and the boy. Something didn’t feell right, and every since he was born, Damian had been trained to follow his gut, and that’s just what he was going to do. After training of course though.

* * *

She was gone.

Marinette, his princess, was gone, and he had no clue where she was. He wanted to ask Max, Max knew everything, but the boy had stopped talking to him after he found out Adrien knew Lila was lying and had done nothing to help Marinette out. It was all a misunderstanding and if Marinette would just talk to him, she would see his side of things, and everything would go back to normal and be perfect. He just knew it would, but in order to do so he would need to talk to his princess. That was easier said than done, what with all her guard dogs around. He thought this trip would be his chance to catch her alone but Lila was clinging to his like a leech, where Lila went, Alya went, and where she went, Nino went, and those three didn’t give him a moment to breath. He loved Nino, Nino was his best friend, but all Alya and Lila did was talk shit about Marinette and Adrien swore he was going to snap one of these days.

Marinette was nothing like Lila claimed, Marinette was perfect and sweet and lovely, nothing like the lying witch and tabloid writer, or Ladybug. He didn’t hate Ladybug…much, he was just so angry with her. She denied time and time again that they were soulmates and were made for each other, each time was a cataclysm to his heart, and yet he still stood by her side to fight, she would realize the truth, but then time passed and she wouldn’t fucking open her eyes. Then she was getting mad at him for not showing up to battles, but she had no fucking right, it was a while before he realized she was just as manipulative as Lila, she rejected him once again and really he was thankful for it. That last rejection opened his eyes to other possibilities, Kagami was a no right away, she was a great friend but she placed expectations on his like everyone else, Lila was a big fucking no, she was crazy, and he would tell her that to her face but he didn’t want to rock the boat like Marinette continued to do.

The thought made him sigh, if only she had done as he said, she would have been okay and would still be friends with everyone and this whole picking sides war wouldn’t be happening either. But he couldn’t be mad at Marinette, not at all, she was, god she was amazing. It was just in her blood to fight for what was right and to fight back, it was something he admired but something that was terribly frustrating. Once they started dating, she would learn. The thought of dating Marinette brought a love-sick grin to his face, his last attempt at getting her to go on a date with him hadn’t gone well as Chat, he couldn’t believe that her parents thought he was trying to kidnap her, the audacity!

But he could still try as Adrien, as he heard from Alya that Marinette had a crush on him! It was perfect, she was perfect, and they would be perfect together, he just had to find her first. Adrien had convinced Mlle Bustier to bring the class with her to Gotham Academy the next day in hopes of seeing Marinette there since it was on her schedule to go to the school with Mlle Bustier to go over everything and make sure their weeks in the school would go over smoothly. When he found out she wasn’t there he was a little put out, where could she possibly be? Alix of course was making a scene and rocking the boat and Adrien had to restrain himself from glaring at her, lately though he found he had to hold himself back from physically reacting to things too. Normally he would go to Plagg about this but the kwami was being so god damn annoying, on the plus side he found out he could give his kwami orders. Really, it was for the best that he gave Plagg orders, obviously Ladybug did something to his kwami which is why Plagg tried to take the ring form him, but no matter.

Plagg tried to claim Adrien had to give the ring up since he wasn’t a proper chosen but he knew that was a lie, the wrong chosen here was Ladybug and once he ripped those earrings off her pretty ears he would give them to Marinette and they would be the best hero duo. Way better than Ladybug that’s for sure. She had proved she was a great hero as Multimouse, Ladybug was the one against using her again, maybe she was just jealous of Marinette, she must have known she was better than her and that’s why she never brought Marinette back into the team. That would change soon.

Once back in Paris he planned to fix her mistakes and make everything perfect. But first, he had to find his perfect princess. He had heard some rumors about a poison lady and Harley something spotted with a girl with hair as dark as midnight and he just knew he had to be Mari, the lead was odd but he just chalked it up to Gotham weirdness, but it was the best lead he had.

Gotham better brace itself, it was about to have a cool chat roaming the streets that night. He would no anything to find Marinette. Anything. Even if that meant fighting the infamous Bat Family. Nothing would get in between him and his princess, not anymore, they were in a whole new playing field, and Marinette didn’t have her parents or Ladybug to stop them from dating. How could she refuse?

“Get ready, Gotham.” He smirked to himself.

* * *

**Gerri Stephanson** _@GoGoGothamRangers_

Anyone have spare brain cells? These kids from France are in desperate need of some. Any donations help really. The sausage-haired orange romper chick is still talking about her “good friends” the Waynes, she mentioned how she taught “Tommy Rake” everything about computers and all his skills are thanks to her. #pleasedonate #sarahmclachlinwhereyouatgirlweneedanewcommercial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated and make my day!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harley and Ivy get some good news! Damian just wants to find out what's going on with him. Marinette is just thankful to be away from her class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the late chapter but I need to say, I do not appreciate people deleting their comments about updates and then recommenting them over and over again. Especially at this time, many of you don't know as this is a newer fic but those of you who have read past works know, I suffer from Cluster Headaches. Headaches is a light word, they are more like migraines except they don't happen once and go away, they happen in clusters like the name suggests. They can go on for days, weeks, and worse case scenario...months. I am entering month two of having them everyday, and every time i have one i trigger a migraine to happen at the same time so it's double the pain and my mediation makes me sleepy so I'm not 100% at the time. And now classes have moved online and I am a visual learner so it's taking me a while to understand things, it's why i haven't had the time nor motivation to write but i love this fic and i love all of you and I'm not abandoning it i promise but updates will be slow and for that I'm sorry.

Harley had been playing this new cookie game that Lucy had told her about during on of their weekly calls, she had to admit she liked it a lot for it being a platformer game, she was just about to reach a big life potion when her phone laughed from a text that was now blocking her screen. She yelled in defeat and nearly chucked her phone, she could hear her Daffo-doll laughing at her in the next room, but then she actually looked at the text and let out a squeal of delight as she jumped out of her and Ivy’s bed and ran into the living room where Ivy was a vision as she watered the plants in there. Harley took a moment to appreciate her girlfriend with a dopey smile before she remembered the text she got.

“Pam-a-lamb! Guess who just text me! Go on, guess!”

Ivy chuckled once more before putting the watering can Harley had gotten her for their first anniversary on the windowsill next to her…what did she call them again? Rattle Dragons? If Harley remembered correctly they were snap dragons mixed with rattle snake DNA or something like that, they had been Ivy’s gift to her, since she knew snap dragons were Harley’s favorite flowers, purely because of their name and they way they looked. “Hmm, was it our favorite stray kitty, Peanut?”

“Nope! ... Come to think of it we haven’t seen Selina in a while. We should schedule a girl’s night when she gets back into town. But anyways! Nope! Not Miss Wayne.”

“Mrs. Love, they are married.” Ivy said with a small laugh as she made her way over to their couch and sat down and looked at Harley expectantly. Harley knew she was giving Ivy a dopey smile but she didn’t care, this woman made her crazy in all the right ways, she giggled to herself as she plopped right next to her wife and snuggled into her side while Ivy turned on the television.

“That’s beside the point, our little Marigold texted me!” Harley was awful at keeping secrets or surprises from her Pam-a-lamb, she blushed in memory of the night she proposed to Ivy, god she had been a mess, she had barely bought the ring that day, with help from Selina and Dinah, she had planned on hiding it and saving it for the perfect day but Ivy had known something was up. Harley literally threw the box at Ivy, then got on one knee and looked up at Ivy and simply said ‘Please?’

She felt Ivy jolt in surprise before she felt herself being pushed to sit up which made her whine because she had been so comfortable just resting her head against her wife’s chest, it was soft, warm, and she liked to listen to her heart beat. She nearly let herself fall face first back to that warmth, but she made herself have some semblance of self-control, it wasn’t often when she could have that. She was getting better, her and Ivy were, they weren’t villains anymore, as Red Hood liked to say when they had their monthly poker nights, they were anti-heroes, and that was a title Harley could live with. Long ago she had been over the moon to be known as the Joker’s girlfriend, but call her that now? You’d be going to the hospital with a broken jaw, good behavior be damned. Now? Now she was Harleen “Harley” Quinzel-Isley, wife of Pamela “Ivy” Quinzel-Isley, and she honestly couldn’t be happier with that title, but maybe adding mom to Marigold would help. Okay, she knew her and Ivy couldn’t actually adopt Marinette as she already had parents, but damn it all to hell if they wouldn’t be the best anti-hero mom’s they could be for her.

“Really? Well, what did she say?” Ivy asked with a wide smile, Harley couldn’t help but give her wife a peck before she opened the messages on her phone once more.

“She said her parents gave her the okay to come over on the weekends!” She knew she had shouted but she was just so happy and excited. They would have the best time on the weekend, they could take Marigold out to walk Bud and Lou, show her their old haunts, take her to that good vegan restaurant Ivy loves to go to, or they could do takeout and watch movies! Oh, they would need to make up the guest room, it was usually Selina’s room when she came to hang out and it was late. They all knew Selina could take care of herself but they said that when they wanted to have sleepovers, which there hasn’t been one in a while due to Selina’s marriage, they were happy for her of course, but Harley missed having her with them. Harley and Ivy would have to clean it up a bit since it was currently the storage room, it wasn’t too bad though, and they had at least 3 days until Marinette would be coming.

Harley turned to tell Ivy her plan and smiled when she saw her Daffo-doll lost in thought, she tucked a stray piece of Ivy’s hair behind her ear and giggled when a red carnation grew near her hand, she kissed Ivy’s cheek to get her wife’s attention. “We’re going to have to clean the spare room for her but I don’t think it’ll be too hard.”

Ivy smiled at her and nodded. “Sounds good. Oh! Can you ask if she’s allergic to anything, Love? I don’t want her to get hurt here, I’d rather we be overprepared than under.”

Harley nodded and shot off a text rapidly with tons of emojis to let Marigold know how excited they were to have her at their place. She looked back up and saw a thoughtful crease in her wife’s brow. “What’s with the face? Something wrong?”

“Ah…nothing’s wrong Honeysuckle, I was just…well, I’m considering giving our Sapling the serum I gave you, I would feel better knowing she would be protected from others attack tactics if we aren’t there with her. Of course, I want to ask her in person, but do you think she’d want to?”

“Hmm, I mean I don’t see why not. But like you said it’d be better to ask her when she gets here- Oh! She sent a selfie! Smile Red I wanna send one back!” Harley squealed as she squished her wife into the picture and giggled when Ivy just rolled her eyes at her.

* * *

Damian wiped his face with his shirt with a huff, he had had a good training session, he was thankful his brothers were otherwise occupied with questioning his father and his sanity, as much as he liked to spar, he had wanted some alone time which always seemed to be sparse if his family could help it. The thought of a shower sounded like heaven so Damian decided that was what he would do, then he would seek out Marinette to see how the conversation with her parents went, it would be a lie if he said he wasn’t curious to see if they would let her stay the weekend with some of Gotham’s rogues, even if said rogues were trying to be better. He would never admit it but he was proud of Quinn and Ivy, sure they weren’t perfect but they were trying, he had even been invited to their wedding-as Robin of course but still. Though, he couldn’t help but worry for Marinette, and really that was what he tried not to think about as he trained, yet the feeling wouldn’t leave him, it’s like it had a firm grip on his heart, and well, it was starting to piss him off. He figured if he talked to Marinette the feeling would go away so he quickly made his way to his room and showered.

After he was done he threw on some new clothes and decided to let his hair air dry since he didn’t have anywhere to be that day besides patrol later that night, he figured Marinette was still in her room and walked over but once he was in front of the door he paused. He frowned as he grabbed a stray piece of hair that was in his face and huffed, maybe he should have taken the time to do his hair? Immediately his frown deepened at the thought, why would he do that? He was only going to talk to Marinette, it’s not like he was going to a gala or anything like that. With one more huff he raised his hand an knocked, he was surprised to hear a loud thump and instincts ruled out anything else when he opened the door and ran in.

“Marinette are you okay?” He asked as he ran in, he didn’t even notice he had called her by her first name, which was something he tried to refrain from doing with new people and people who annoyed him. It was also something that had been drilled into him when he was still in the League. Lord, forbid he call someone so familiarly, the only people he could was with family and even then his grandfather had always looked like he wanted to backhand him for simply calling him جد (Jid means Grandad in Arabic).

When he rushed in he barely noticed Marinette on the floor but as soon as he did he stopped short so he wouldn’t fall on her, he was about to call for Alfred or someone because Marinette was just lying there face down on the ground with one hand outstretched towards the door. Damian immediately helped her up and frowned when he looked at her face, specifically her nose which was very red, thankfully it wasn’t bleeding but with the way Marinette was smiling at him and giving a soft, oh so soft, ‘thank you’, she probably wouldn’t have made it a big deal. He helped her over to the bed and sat her down, once he was sure she was stable he bent down and as gently as possible grabbed her chin and turned her face one way then the other before he looked in her eyes to see if maybe she looked dizzy or confused.

“Damian, I’m fine I swear, I told you I was clumsy, this happens a lot. I promise I’m not concussed.” Marinette said with a giggle, though she said so she still let him look over her, which was…telling. She must have done and gone through this a lot otherwise she wouldn’t have been acting so nonchalant, which bothered Damian for some reason.

“That may be true, and no that I don’t believe you Ms. Dupain-Cheng, but I will still check, and if I deem it you do indeed have a concussion, I will take you to Pennyworth.” Damian grumbled out as he continued to check on her, making sure to make her follow his finger with her eyes and so forth.

Again, she giggled. “Sounds reasonable…wait, why Alfred?”

“He has a medical background.”

“Really? Wow.” It wasn’t said dismissively like most people in his father’s world, and well his world, often said. They acted like it was a pleasantry at best, but Marinette, she seemed genuinely intrigued, which was pretty damn refreshing if you asked Damian. Sometimes, the rich made him want to bring out his katana in rage. He even played with the idea of what they would call him, probably some play on a robin hood out for blood, but that one always made him scowl since Gotham already had a Robin and the Hood would make him think of Todd. Then there was the other which was a play on the Red Death, that was his favorite, but that way all beside the point. Marinette cared and it made him happy for some odd reason. He seriously had to see if he was coming down with something when he felt himself offer a small smile.

“Yes. He is quite efficient, and I figure you wouldn’t like to go to the emergency room.”

Marinette scrunched up her nose and that was all the answer he needed. “So, does he have basic first aide training?”

She kept surprising him. “He, uh, yeah I believe so. More as well, I believe he picked up things here and there when he was a soldier.” Okay so maybe it wasn’t his smoothest moments, but it seemed to work. He couldn’t very well just up and admit that he and his family had had more than what was probably considered a normal number of minor surgeries done, all of which were done by Pennyworth because of the family’s vigilante activity. Honestly, Alfred deserved a long vacation away from them, but the thought made him scrunch his nose and brows, Alfred did deserve many vacations, but the reality was they probably wouldn’t survive two days without him. He was just always there, always ready to help, he was the family’s own Batman and they probably- no they needed to show him they appreciated him. But that was a thought to plan out later, right now he was talking to Marinette and if he spaced out and let her think he wasn’t paying attention then Alfred would smack him upside the head for not being a gentleman to the lady. Plus he would scold him and lecture him and Damian really didn’t want that, when Alfred lectured he made you feel guilty about everything bad or shameful you have ever done in your life, it was worse than being lectured by his father or even Ra’s al Ghul for that matter.

“That’s incredible! I’ll have to ask him about it at some point, but we’re getting off topic. I’m not trying to be rude but uh, what uh, what did you need me for?” Marinette asked as her cheeks turned rosy and she avoided eye contact to instead fiddle with a ring on her middle finger. Odd, he didn’t remember her wearing a ring for breakfast, he was always on alert around new people. He would have noticed if it was on this morning. Why out it on now? She seemed like someone who put together what she was going to wear and stick too it, considering she was into fashion, it was not like Damian himself

“Ah, well, as you said, not to be rude but I was-and am- rather curious about the Ivy and Quinn situation.”

“What about it?” She asked like she seriously had no idea what about that situation was questionable, to which he responded with a slow raise of a brow. She stared at him for a while before sighing. “They helped me get back to my hotel my first night here. I was…forgotten at my class’s hotel. I tried to catch up by taking a taxi but traffic was so slow. Why is traffic so slow? Also why does everyone drive like they can just make their own lane appear?”

“Unfortunately, that’s how traffic in this state works.” They forgot her. How could the teacher forget a student in one of the most crime ridden cities in the world?

“I understand that now. I traveled to Wayne Tower but by the time I got there the lady at the front told me my class had just left. Sure enough, I saw the bus taking off without me, so I decided to just head back to the hotel. I couldn’t grab another taxi, so I tried to walk. My phone died. I cried. Harley and Ivy found me and helped me get back to my hotel. They were very nice and when everything went down with Scarecrow…they didn’t have to help but they did, and they took care of me. I know they used to be villains or rogues or whatever you call them, but they have been nicer to me than most people have in a long time. I trust them and my parents trust me so I have been allowed to stay with them on weekends as long as I check in with them or Mr. Wayne. I mean Bruce.” Damian had to admire her ability to not need air throughout that whole thing. He thought only Dick was capable of talking like that.

“Still, be on guard. There are a lot of people who don’t like them and who might go after you if they know you are associated with them.”

“You’re not going to talk me out of it?”

“Would it dissuade you?” Damian asked as he looked at her with a raised brow.

“Nope.” She said with a smile, and when she looked at him with that smile, his chest fluttered with warmth and he had to fight the smile that tried to break through. What was wrong with him?

* * *

Marinette had been surprised that Damian had come to talk about Ivy and Harley but she figured didn’t trust them or rather, now that they talked, he didn’t trust the people they used to know and the people they made enemies with. What did surprise her was the fact that he given her his phone number, he said it was for emergencies and Damian seemed like the type that if you called him for anything besides an emergency, you would lose all his trust, and Marinette didn’t want to do that. She smiled down at her phone before texting Harley the good news, after that though her smile slipped, and she frowned down at her phone before pulling out her old phone from her backpack. She stared at it for what felt like hours but she new it was only minutes by the faint ticks that went by from the clock on the nightstand closest to the door. Damian had said something about the family having work and that if she needed anything to go find Alfred. Well he called him Pennyworth but still, she was grateful to be left with her thoughts so she could sort out what to do. Honestly, she felt like not returning to the trip altogether, but Lila would be all too pleased with that, and Marinette would not give her the satisfaction. The thought of going back though clenched her heart painfully and squeezed her lungs of breath. She took in a deep breath slowly and concentrated on the feeling of Tikki and Kaalki’s tiny hands on her face as she turned on the phone and looked over the messages that waited for her. There was the usual hateful, downright cruel things she suspected, there was Lila’s mocking and threats, and then there was Adrien’s messages.

She had to calm herself all over again before she opened the message.

‘Don’t worry princess, I’ll come rescue you as soon as I find out where you are.’

She held in her scream but threw the phone not caring if it made a noise, her heart was racing and beating so loud it was the only thing she could hear until she calmed herself and heard Tikki and Kaalki trying to reassure her. She had a death grip on her current phone and looked down at Damian’s number, she felt the urge to contact him but knew he was busy, she also briefly considered calling Bruce but dismissed it at well. They had been so kind to her, she didn’t want to bother but she absolutely did not want anyone in her class to know where she was, especially Adrien.

What did she do now?

* * *

**Sofie Howl** _@hattersmovingcastle _

Okay I know the talk of the school is how dumb the French class is but can we please talk about the blond boy? I recognize him from somewhere but that’s not the point. Anyone else notice how he eavesdrops if anyone talks about Poison Ivy and Harley? I don’t know why but it’s a little creepy not going to lie. #likeexcusemesirthisismyconversation #youwerenotinvited

**Yes My Name is Yu** _@noimnotyouimme_

RE: Okay I know the talk of the school is how…

Oh my god I thought I was the only one! He kind of looks like the main model for the Gabriel Brand but I’m not sure. But I did notice him doing that today! It was so weird! I thought it was just me being paranoid… #excusemesirdoyounotknowmanners #doesithavetodowiththattweetawhileago #wherethstudentwasrunningonredbullcoffeeandaprayer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [WARNING: SOME SLIGHTY CREEPY TEXTS FROM ADRIEN]
> 
> Marinette reads some missed messages from Adrien try and see if he truly knows where she is and ends up breaking down a bit. Alfred POV it's small but it's there and I love it! And of course more Damian POV as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so mad I had been working on this chapter and then my computer crashed and i lost everything, and believe me I tried everything to get the files back but it's like they never existed so I had to rewrite the entire chapter. Nevertheless I hope you enjoy as things start to pick up a bit!

Marinette prided herself on her ability to stay calm and think through a problem, but it seemed like that ability was all but gone in that moment. She could feel Tikki and Kaalki hugging her to the best they could given how small they were, they were talking as well but whatever they were saying sounded muffled to her. Limbs locked into place like they were preparing for the worst and she could tell she was grinding her teeth but only because she could hear it, everything just felt numb. That is until she heard her phone buzz and buzz with incoming texts which she just knew were from Adrien somehow. Then everything came crashing down and she felt like she might puke, but she swallowed the urge and got off the bed slowly and made her way to her old phone that laid by one of the windows innocently like it wasn’t the object of her fear or apprehension.

With shaky fingers she quickly snatched the phone off the ground, took a deep breath in to steel herself, and flipped the phone over so she could see the screen. She was somewhat surprised to see some texts from her other classmates, some claiming she was being dramatic. Alya saying she couldn’t believe that Marinette was playing the sympathy card, whatever that meant, but finally she say the name at the top, Adrien Agreste and beside it a preview of the message he sent, but she didn’t look at it because sh knew if she did, she would back out of looking altogether.

“Marinette, maybe you shouldn’t.” Tikki suggested as she eyed the phone warily, beside her Kaalki nodded in agreement.

“I have to Tikki…I have to know if he knows anything. I may not have told Max, Kim, or Alix where specifically I am, but I did tell them I was safe and that the sponsor of the trip located me somewhere safe for the remainder of the trip. Adrien isn’t stupid. He’ll find a way to get that small bit of information and when he does…” Marinette felt ill at even the thought. It wasn’t a secret that the sponsor of the trip was Bruce Wayne, she had purposefully kept that between her, Mme Bustier, and Principal Damocles so Lila couldn’t claim she hooked the class up with the trip. Her efforts were a waste in the end anyways when Mme Bustier blabbed about M Wayne being the sponsor before they hopped on the plane. Of course, Lila claimed she set it up, and that she didn’t tell Marinette because she was sure that she would have cancelled everything if she knew Lila had helped. Marinette had been furious because it had been her essay that had been picked which is what allowed them to even be considered for the exchange. Marinette even argued this, pointing out that it was her essay that had won and it had even been posted on the school website that was run by Aurore, her classmates of course looked confused because no of them checked the school website since Lila said it was a betrayal against Alya, but really it was because Aurore didn’t believe Lila’s lie and had debunked one of her lies on the website. Since then she has told the class that Marinette must have convinced Aurore and the others who ran the sight that Lila was bad news and that they should stay away from the sight.

Like good little sheep, they did what they were told.

The cherry on top of everything was that Mme Bustier hadn’t said a thing to defend Marinette, despite knowing that she was telling the truth and Lila was not, and when Marinette looked to her for help, Caline Bustier gave her a disappointed look and turned away. Maybe that’s why when Batman said she may lose her job; Marinette only felt a dull ache of pity. If Caline did her job maybe she would have felt differently but that’s just the thing, she hadn’t been doing her job, and this trip was the eye opener Marinette needed. She had always loved, believed, and said the quote ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’ Caline Bustier was the perfect example of that.

_BZZZZ!_

The sound and feeling of the phone in her hand buzzing nearly made Marinette drop it right back on the floor, but she held it in a fierce grip before giving herself a nod and opening Adrien’s messages. She scrolled all the way to the top, of all seventy-eight messages, and hopefully not counting, and sighed in relief. They were his typical high-road narcissistic bullshit messages, saying how could she make a scene, and she had to be the bigger person, but after is what made her throat clench and made it had to swallow down a breath.

**ADRIEN AFRESTE:** _Princess y did u rely on that oaf instead of your knight in shining leather?_

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _U know I could have protected u better. U know that. _

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _Where r u? Kim, Max, and Alix r making a scene_

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _Answer. Me. Marinette._

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _Please princess?_

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _Look I know u r ignoring me for “siding” with Lila. But come on this is getting very immature_

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _I LOVE YOU MARINETTE WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO REALIZE THAT? IM DOING THIS FOR US_

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _That was out of line of me, but its tru_

Marinette sucked in an unsteady breath and scrolled past several messages knowing they would be along the same lines as the ones before and really, she did not want to subject herself to that kind of thing anymore than she already had. Though she did keep her eyes peeled for any messages that may contain any information about anything he knew about her and where she was or his plans, because she knew he had to have some at this point, to find her.

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** Why weren’t u at the school today princess? I convinced Mme Bustier to bring all of us so we could see u and u had the audacity to not show?

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** Why r u neglecting ur responsibilities as class president? I know u don’t like Lila but this is getting immature Marinette

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** Oh I’m sorry Princess! Ur knight has failed u! I overheard some girls talking about a poison woman of plants and some other woman kidnapping u! Don’t worry ur furr-less knight will find u and bring u back where u belong.

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** With me.

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** Damn autocorrect lol. I meant us of course

She had to swallow more than a scream this time as the dinner she had eaten seemed to try and make a guest appearance. Oh god he had known about Ivy and Harley! But she noticed as she scrolled some more, that he didn’t seem to find out anything about their location. Tears of relief escaped, she ignored them in favor of scrolling some more, she didn’t know what she would have done if she had put Ivy and Harley in danger like that. Logically Marinette knew the two women could more than handle themselves but just the thought of Chat finding them and possibly fighting them, had her fighting with her upchuck reflex once more. She had to be strong. At least for a little longer. Until she knew for certain he had no idea where she was. So she scrolled.

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _Wow rumors spread here faster than they do at Dupont!_

**ADRIEN AGRESTE**: _Okay maybe that was an exaggeration but u will never guess what I heard! _😊

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _I heard a certain someone got to take a ride in the Batmobile…isn’t that exciting?_

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _Now it’s not confirmed or anything but my cat senses were tingling when I heard it and I just knew it had to be u._

**ADRIEN AGRESTE**: _Aren’t u one lucky princess?_

Her heart practically hiccupped on the word ‘lucky’ and she had to take a moment to convince herself that he didn’t know who she was. There was no way he could have found out she was Ladybug, he was just commenting on her actual luck. Adrien wasn’t making a stupid pun about her and her identity. Eventual it worked and she continued reading even if she could feel herself working up to a panic attack…again. Maybe Tikki was right, she needed some help, she needed to tell someone other than her parent’s who weren’t here about Adrien. Maybe they could help her out or something, but she needed someone there with her before she shut herself off.

With a nod to herself Marinette nodded to her other phone hoping Tikki or Kaalki would get the silent meaning behind it, of course Tikki was the one to understand and immediately flew over to her phone and Kaalki followed to help bring the device over to Marinette. She smiled gratefully at the two before looking down at her phone and nodding once more and opening up Damien’s contact information, she didn’t know why but he was the first person that popped into her head when she thought of asking for help. The thought was quickly dismissed though when she recalled Damian telling her his family and him would be out late due to some family business. With that in mind she decided to seek out Alfred and see what he thought after she scrolled all the way too the bottom of the messages to read the last couple of ones.

ADRIEN AGRESTE: I may have decided to be a fly on the wall, well more like a cat on a roof using his gadgets to listen in, but details!, and I found out our dear kind sponsor relocated u!

**ADRIEN AGRESTE**: _So where r u princess?_

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _IM GETTING TIRED OF ASKING_

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _I guess we’re just playing a lil game of cat n mouse!_

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** Hope ur ready Mari, I’m going to suit up soon and then…heh well I’ll be on the PROWL for u ;D

**ADRIEN AGRESTE:** _Cant wait to c u <3_

After she read the last message, Marinette couldn’t hold in her scream and immediately ran out of her room in search of Alfred, she didn’t know what he could do but she needed someone and his energy was calling to her. Maybe it was the residual energy of a Miraculous on him or maybe it was just him, but she really had no time to dwell on that as she ran through Wayne Manor yelling and crying for Alfred, all without knowing she had accidentally pressed call on Damian’s contact.

* * *

Alfred had been down in the Batcave monitoring patrol as he always had when the Manor cameras picked up movement. He would deny softly cursing into his cup of tea as he turned to see what the problem was, he was fully prepared to see one of Master Damian’s animals loose and on the run. It was rare but not uncommon and it would be just their luck that it would happen when they had a guest that was no doubt trying to sleep at this hour. Alfred cursed once more when he saw that what had trigged the cameras wasn’t one of Master Damian’s animals, it was in fact their guest Miss Marinette running around and from the looks of it screaming and crying. He didn’t hesitate to put his tea down and rush out of the cave, he didn’t know was set the poor girl off, but whatever it was he would get to the bottom of it and settle it as fast as he could, or deal with whoever it was swiftly

As soon as he left the cave, he ran towards the last place on the cameras he had seen Miss Marinette. “Miss Marinette?” He called out.

He heard a loud sob and barely had time to brace himself before he felt a tiny body barrel into his. It took a second for him to realize it was the girl in question but once he did notice he immediately wrapped the small girl in his arms and couldn’t help the brief feeling of helplessness as he felt just how terrified she was. Her body was shaking so violently that she was practically vibrating and her sobs were uncontrollable if the deep inhales and hiccups were anything to go by. The butler didn’t know who or what caused this, but whatever it was would pay dearly. Yes he had only known the dear for a small amount of time but he had to confess that he was already a bit attached to the girl. Besides, he was not blind to the way Bruce and the boys looked at her, especially Master Damian. The boy didn’t know it, but Alfred knew a crush when he saw one, and the boy indeed was developing a crush on the girl, but that was beside the matter.

“Miss Marinette, my dear, what happened?”

“He-He-He’s coming! He’s going to find me Alfred! He can’t find me!” Marinette screamed, though the poor thing’s voice was hoarse.

Alfred immediately pulled the girl softly into his arms and he noted how desperately she clung to him, “Who?” He didn’t know how he did it, but he managed to keep his voice calm.

“Adrien! He said-He said he was going to come “re-rescue” me! That Chat..He…He actually is going to track me down! What am I going to do?” She asked as she finally looked up at him with wide tear-filled eyes. If he hadn’t known she had been giving the fear toxin antidote, or well the Poison Ivy equal to it, he would have been inclined to say she was still suffering from the effects of it, but it had already been a day since that attack. He knew the toxins were well out of her systems at this point, so this fear was not caused by any toxin or gas, this was pure, unadulterated terror over someone who supposedly could and was going to track her down in Gotham. Then the name caught Alfred’s attention, he recalled, a one Adrien Agreste, in Marinette’s class when him and Master Tim had done research in the Batcave on Marinette’s class after the whole Scarecrow incident. If that was who she was indeed speaking of, it seemed like him and Master Tim had more research to do.

“Marinette, I swear to you, as long as you are in this household I and the family will do everything in our power to keep you safe.” Alfred swore, and he knew once the others heard of this, they would too, but Marinette still didn’t seem convinced.

“Alfred, you…you don’t understand! He isn’t normal! He’s Destruction! I refused to date him back in Paris and he broke into my room! My parents…My parents and I could do nothing! Nothing! Because he’s Chat Noir, local hero! But, Alfred he’s not a hero! He’s not you have to believe me!” Marinette rambled on almost hysterically as she began to sob once more and all Alfred could do was look down at her helplessly and rock her gently.

Wait…Did she just say Chat Noir…and…and Destruction?

It couldn’t be could it?

There’s no way they would be out…unless…but they would have heard about it surely.

Surely there weren’t Miraculi out being used without the whole world knowing about it, right?

Alfred frowned but shook his head softly, he could worry about that later, right now he had to calm down Marinette. As gently as he could he lifted her up but she didn’t even seem to notice, and made his way down to the kitchen. Perhaps some tea would help, and if not, then maybe the walk down would put the poor girl to sleep. She looked like she desperately needed it and the company and Hell would freeze over before he left her alone tonight. He may not have Duusuu anymore, his heart panged at the memory of his friend, but he still felt the need to protect and this little fowl needed to be protected more than anyone he knew at the moment.

* * *

Damian and his family had taken their respective routes for patrol with their assigned partners, his being his father tonight. Grayson had the “brilliant” idea that when they were all staying at the Manor together that they would pick their partners for patrol out of a hat to “spice” things up. It was frankly ridiculous and childish but it made him miss the Titans in a way so he overlooked it and went on with business as usual. They had done their fair share of crime-stopping, robberies, muggings, attempted murder, the works, all in all a normal night in Gotham, and when they checked in with everyone else it seemed like they were having the same kind of night.

But something was putting Damian on edge. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew better than to question his gut, it usually knew what it was talking about at this point. So even though everything was normal he couldn’t help but feel paranoid and keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Well, out of the ordinary for Gotham that is. He knew he wasn’t being as subtle as he would have liked as he had caught all the glances his father was sending him. It was times like that he wished that Wayne men were versed in the language of actual communication and not whatever foolishness they carried on with, but as they say, old habits die hard, and communication issues seem to be an issue as deep roted as Wayne history itself.

After another glance from his father, Damian was about to snap at him but before he could he felt his phone buzz. Puzzled, he swiftly pulled it out of a pocket on his utility belt, it was his ‘Robin’ phone but of anyone called his usual number it would redirect the call to this phone so he could see who was calling or messaging him. He was surprised to see the contact ‘**Dupain-Cheng’ **show up. He told her to only call him if she had an emergency and as mad as he wanted to be at the fact she called during their “family business” something told him it was an emergency.

“Robin. What seems to be the problem?”

Batman. Always straight to the point. “Our ward. She’s calling. I gave her my number for emergencies only.”

His father remained silent, as he too knew what that meant, they may have only known her for officially a day, unofficially two, but Dupain-Cheng did not seem like the kind of person to abuse emergency phone numbers for silly purposes. “Answer. But patch us all in.”

Damian nodded and did just that, glad that the phone was directly connected to their earpieces. At first he was confused as he answered with a brief and stern ‘yes?’ with no response and he had been so close to hanging when his blood went cold as they heard Marinette yelling for Alfred and screaming about how someone was going to find her. Damian could see his father tense beside him, and he didn’t need to see them to know that his brothers were in the same position.

Finally they heard Pennyworth find the girl and try to calm her down and Damian would be lying if he said he didn’t hope it would work but Mari-Dupain-Cheng only seemed to sink further into despair over however was after who. He sucked in a sharp breath when he heard Marinette say this boy was going to “rescue” her and track her down, obviously he was demented but all the same he could hear Todd cussing up a storm.

“Can’t the poor girl catch just one fucking break?” Grayson growled.

Damian was inclined to silently agree and was going to voice it when he heard Marinette say something that made his entire family suck in a breath of rage, this Adrien boy, this Chat, had broken into her room? He was a hero? That couldn’t be right! There was no way a hero would break into a civilians room because said civilian rebuffed his affections. Damian could feel his blood pressure rising and the anger boiling. Grayson was right, Marinette deserved a break and Alfred was right, they would not let anything happen to her. She was in their house she was under their protection.

“Did she say Adrien?” Drake asked after a minute of rage filled silence between the family.

“She did.” His father confirmed gruffly.

“…Bats, I’m hoping, no I’m praying I’m wrong, but when Alfred and I were researching Marinette and her class we went over the names of the classmates. One of them is named Adrien Agreste.” Drake responded with poorly concealed anger.

“You thing the little dirtbag could be the same Adrien she is talking about?” Todd asked.

“He’s the blond one, right? Green eyes?” Grayson asked monotonously.

“Yes?” Drake questioned and confirmed while Damian rolled his eyes.

“During the tour he kept glancing at her. And she would glare at him or pretend not to notice. He has to be the same guy.” Grayson grit out, no doubt blaming himself for not noticing something they didn’t even know about until now.

“We don’t know for sure Nightwing. We’ll ask Thaddeus for more information when we return to the cave.” Batman replied, they had agreed a long time ago to refer to Pennyworth ad Thaddeus when in uniform so no one would make any connection that the Waynes were the famed vigilantes of Gotham and Bludhaven.

“Okay. But first we check on her.” Grayson said like it wasn’t obvious they were going to do so.

Damian took this as a sign to hang up the phone call with Dupain-Cheng and let Pennyworth help her out as they finish up patrol so they could go check up on her and maybe get her to explain the whole hero business and Adrien ordeal. Damian had half a mind to demand his father pull Dupain-Cheng from the trip and not give this Adrien guy even the slightest chance to look at her. Just as he was about to suggest they rap up their respective patrols Damian and his father heard a soft thud hit the roof they were on, to others it might had gone unnoticed but when Catwoman is your stepmother you learn to sense a cat.

Both Robin and Batman swiftly turned around and were fully expecting Selina to be back from her trip to New York City but both remained stoic even when they were surprised but the sight of wild blond hair and though the idea of a leather suit was familiar this one was not. The ears of the suit even moved as if the were real, and the mask looked as though it could have been painted on. Damian didn’t know what it was but something in him was screaming that the boy in front of him had something that belonged to him. It was like the energy he had felt from Dupain-Cheng’s bag, but more intense and more welcoming, this energy felt like home in a weird way. He knew he would be teased if he ever uttered this out loud but the energy felt like a mother’s voice calming its child right after birth, it was intimate, like it knew him, like it birthed him.

It was all so confusing and his very being was telling him to attack and then the person opened their mouth.

“I didn’t think I would run into the local heroes so soon! Man what a CAT-ch! I’m glad I caught you, you gentlemen could really help a Feline out, you especially Batman. You gave my Princess a ride in your car, I need you to tell me where you took her!”

“I don’t know what you are talking about young man.” Batman said, but Damian and him knew exactly who this guy was talking about, and if they weren’t on edge already they sure were now.

“YES. You do. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Where is she?” The leather-clad boy asked as his eyes narrowed and the ears atop his head pressed flat in irritation.

“Safe. That’s all you need to know. Now I suggest you leave.” Damian answered, he didn’t know why but he felt the need to protect Marinette from this demented imposter feline.

“So you want to do this the hard way…well no one can say I didn’t try.” The boy said before he slowly smirked and licked his lips, “I’ll get you to talk. One way or another. CATACLYSM!”

Cata-what?

* * *

**Bugs Before Hugs** @immagothamitetermite

Ya’ll…okay did Catwoman get an apprentice? Did she get jealous that Batman always has a Robin and like decided she wanted a Kitten? Because I swear to God I saw a little cat dude jumping on the roofs and his suit was leather like…cmon that just screams Catwoman. #imjustsaying #notgonnaliehegavemethecreepstho #alsoiswearonmyfuturegravethatiamnotonmyredbullcoffeebulldhit #bullshitdamnittags #onlyingotham

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated and remember if you have any questions you can always visit my Tumblr which is Goggles-Mcgee

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are very much appreciated!


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